Beautiful Liar
by Abbykinz813
Summary: Roxas had been scarred for life. How could he trust others when he had been through so much? But Axel is determined to show him that not everyone is bad, and just maybe he could learn to trust again. Of course, no one said it would be easy. Temp. Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my readers! as you can see, i have decided to upload my new(er) story that i have been gradually working on the past few months as i am in a deep writers block with Addicted. no worries though, i'll try to get chapter 8 up for that as soon as i can. i'm just really stuck on it right now... but in the mean time, i'll be posting this one as well. Be expecting another more lighthearted one where Axel is a Gardener soon. it was inspired by a commercial and my friend's and my crazy yaoi-filled minds xD enjoy!**

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**Chapter 1**

I never thought that my parents would die before I turned forty. Who would have known that I would be sitting outside of the emergency room, listening to doctors pass by in a meaningless attempt to bring them back to life when I was wasn't even fifteen? My whole body was numb ever since I had see them in a bloody mess being lifted onto stretchers and driven to the hospital after we had gotten into an accident. I didn't say anything as doctors checked to make sure nothing had happened to me, only nodding or shaking my head when they asked me questions. My gaze was fixed on their unmoving bodies, and if I hadn't been so... _painless_, I would have noticed the large gash in my arm being attended to.

Twelve hours ago I had been arguing with my parents about the 'friend' I had been seeing. Twelve hours ago I was being driven home from a boy's house that I had snuck off to many times before, only this time getting caught. Twelve hours ago I had a family.

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I had never been on a plane before. Honestly, if things weren't as they were, I would have been scared out of my mind. But I guess you can gain some things from a loss. Of course, conquering my fear of heights in exchange for my parents' lives wasn't a choice I would have made had I been given the option.

Destiny Islands was a place I only knew from foggy memories of before I was eight years old. The only thing I remembered was the salty smell of the ocean and a few of the faces of people I had played with. Aunt Aerith, Uncle Leon, Uncle Cid, Sora, and Riku. I wondered if it would be any different than Twilight Town. I shivered at the thought of that place. At the thought of my years at Twilight Town High. Of _Him_. I scratched lightly at the growing itch on my fabric-covered wrist. How long ago had it been since I was able to wear short sleeves in public?

I chuckled darkly at how ignorant the doctors had been. How had they not been able to tell the difference between the fresh bruises from flying out of a car window and year to day old scars and hand-shaped bruises? I guess he was right. No matter what happened he would always get away with it.

The flight attendant announced that we were arriving at our destination and to put on our seatbelts for landing. When I stepped off of the plane, maneuvering carefully between people rushed to get where they were going, I stopped when I heard my name being called. "Roxas! Hey, we're over here!" It was Uncle Leon, and... Uncle Cid was standing next to him. I walked over, wincing when Leon dropped his hand onto my shoulder. "How ya doin', kiddo? Lets go get your stuff and then we can head home. Sora's pretty upset we didn't let him come with us."

I only nodded, but that seemed to be enough because with one final pat on my shoulder (causing me to wince again), we were collecting my two suitcases and backpack and piling into Uncle Cid's truck. The second I had stepped outside my nose was assaulted by the strong smell of ocean.

We drove down to a ferry boat that lead us onto the actual island, all together adding up to about forty minutes of sitting in a cramped, beat up red truck. I felt seasick about ten minutes in. All I have to say is that I would never get on a boat again in my life. Luckily though, after puking my guts out and being able to stand on solid ground for a couple of seconds, the horrible feeling in my stomach subsided and we were able to climb back in the car and drive the rest of the way to the Leonheart household.

The second I stepped foot into that house waves of nostalgia came at me with hurricane force. All of the memories of when we were little. Of when I was happy...

"ROOOXXAASSS!" I whipped around to the door only to see a blur of brown and blue before I was most literally tackled to the ground. "I haven't seen you in forever! Since, like, we were eight!" It took me only a second to notice who this insane brunette still clinging onto me was.

I cracked a small smile, for his sake, and hugged him back lightly after I was able to sit up. "Hey Sora."

When he pulled away I had to stop my eyes from widening a bit. He wasn't the tiny little Sora I knew way back when. His skin was tan from the sun, his hair slightly lighter, and his eyes bluer than ever. Not to mention he had grown a whole lot. We always teased him for being the shortest (even though I was only half an inch taller) and now, he was the same height, if not taller.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" a deeper voice asked from behind him, obscured from view by the mess of spikes known as Sora's hair.

Sora beamed and jumped up, dragging me to my feet with him. "Right! Roxas, you remember Riku, don't you?" He stepped aside to reveal a very tall, muscled boy with long silver hair and kind of greenish blue eyes. I nodded, waving slightly at him.

"Long time no see." he grinned, walking over to place his hand on my head and roughly mess up my half-spiked hair. "How's my favorite blonde?"

"We're all going down to the beach today." Sora said excitedly, keeping me from answering Riku's question. Well, it wasn't like I wanted to answer anyway... "You should come with us, Roxas! It'll be like a celebration of you coming back to the Islands!"

Celebration? What in God's name made him think that now of all times was a time to celebrate? I was going to have to repeat exactly what happened in Twilight Town at school, the whole place reeked of saltwater, I got in a car crash resulting in a giant gash in my arm, my parents had died barely two days ago, and somewhere out there _he_ was pissed and would probably come looking for me, and he wants to _celebrate_?

"Come on, it'll get your mind off things." Sora smiled sympathetically, touching my arm lightly. I didn't look away for a good ten second before dropping my gaze to the floor with a sigh and mumbling. "Fine..."

"Great! Come on, everybody's waiting!" and with that I was dragged off to Riku's car (apparently he got his drivers license over the summer) and out to the closest beach. Which was right in our backyard. I guessed by the fact that there was a huge bonfire and just a million people there that I would have been going whether I wanted to or not.

I sat on one of the logs that was circling the fire for the entire time, either roasting marshmallows to stuff my face full of smores or just sitting there. Sora tried to convince me to go play volleyball with him and some other people, but I just shook my head and told him I was tired. He frowned but left me alone.

The rest of the night consisted of everyone huddled around the fire for warmth and light, everyone just joining in on the ever-changing conversation. I stared at my soda, swishing the clear bubbly liquid around in its can. Sprite was my favorite, but I just couldn't get myself to drink it with the horrible twisting in my stomach. Maybe I had too many smores...

"Roxas!" I snapped my head up at the sound of my name and saw Sora start to grin. "You remember _Namine_, right?" he said, and I followed my gaze to the blonde girl next to him, who waved at me shyly.

I did a quick scanning of memories in my head real quick until I remembered her. Namine. Everyone always mistook us as twins. I had had a crush on her since I was five, and that went on until I was ten. I cried and cried when we were moving, saying I didn't want to leave and that I wanted to stay with Namine. I complained about it for weeks afterwards, too; about how they completely ruined my chances with her. But that was all _before_ I started liking guys... "Yeah." I nodded, directing my gaze on her. Her hair was lighter, but she was still just as pale as I remembered. At least _some_ things hadn't changed.

"Are you feeling alright? You look sick..." she said, the best intention at heart. Never once had Namine done something to hurt someone, even if sometimes her comments could be taken the wrong way. She was just honest, was all.

Oh god, too many smores... I sprinted to the trashcan, which was luckily a good couple yards away. Not lucky that I had to run farther, but lucky because no one would be able to hear me.

"Rox, you okay?" Sora asked frantically, running over to me and patting my back lightly.

I nodded breathlessly, hunched over the trashcan with an even worse odor than before, gripping both sides for support. "Too much junk food, I guess." I said, taking a few deep breathes before standing upright again. I started to walk towards the group again but he grabbed my arm.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I could see the worry that filled his eyes, and it was because of more than just the stomachache. "I mean, you don't have to push yourself. You're going through a lot and I... I'm just worried about you." At this he clapped his hands together and bowed his head in a sort of pleading way. "So if there's anything I can do you let me know, okay? Don't bottle everything up inside! It's not healthy!"

If only he knew... I sighed, but smiled at him. "Okay."

"Now what do you say we take you home?" he grinned. "I left my backpack in Riku's car, so we'll have to go get him real quick, kay?" I nodded as he carefully dragged me back to the group and announced we were leaving, then grabbing Riku and dragging both of us to the silver one's car. It took Sora a lot of convincing to get Riku to allow me to ride in his car, for fear of me puking all over the back seat of his brand new convertible. I wanted to do just that to see if he would cry about me ruining his 'baby'. Lucky for him I couldn't puke on command...

When we arrived back at Sora's (our?) house it was already past midnight. Didn't really matter to me; I hadn't slept in three days, and tonight would be the fourth. Even when I did sleep, it wasn't like I got more than four hours in anyway. Sora fell asleep almost instantly after he said goodnight to Riku. At the moment we were sharing a bed. They hadn't gotten me one yet, and there weren't any extra rooms or beds in the house. At least Sora's bed was full sized... I sighed and rolled over so I wasn't facing him anymore and closed my eyes, but no matter how tired I was, I just couldn't sleep.

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I wasn't surprised that no one was awake when I came downstairs at five A.M. the next morning. It was Sunday, after all. Most people were enjoying their last day of sleeping in before work or school. But considering I hadn't slept a wink the night before, the second the sky started to get lighter I was on my feet and making my way down the stairs as quietly as I could. At first I was just sitting at the island in the center of the kitchen, but after a couple minutes I was filling the coffee maker with water and coffee beans. I spent the remainder of the time searching the fridge for creamer (they actually had a lot of different flavors; I chose the vanilla-caramel one) and sitting at the island on one of the three stools that occupied it.

"Your up early." I spun around to see Leon standing at the edge of the kitchen, his eyes still hazy with sleep. "I remember when you were the crabbiest kid ever if you woke up before eleven."

I shrugged, pouring myself my coffee and heading up the stairs to the room I was sharing with Sora. Once inside, I picked out my clothes for the day, took a few sips of my scalding cup of coffee, and went to take a shower. I must have stayed in there for more than an hour, mostly just staring off into space as the water that was much too hot loosened my tense muscles until I had used up every last drop of hot water. Only when I started shivering did I finally step out to dry off and get dressed. I brushed my teeth and ran my fingers through my hair (down on the left and up on the right to get my spiky look), trusting that it looked fine since I couldn't see myself in the mirror from all of the fog on it.

By the time I finally came out of the bathroom it was seven, and my coffee was cooling off. Sora was still sound asleep, snoring softly and half of his body hanging off the side of his bed. I walked past my sleeping cousin and to my bag sitting by his nightstand, sitting on the floor next to it and taking out my laptop.

Sora woke up two hours later, around nine. I watched him groan and roll off the bed in what seemed like slow motion before he trudged slowly out the door, the shower coming on a couple minutes later. It was then that I decided to check my phone for the first time in two days.

I wished I had never done that.

Four missed calls, three voicemails, thirteen text messages, and two picture messages. All from the same person. I knew it was a stupid idea, but I scrolled through all of the messages.

'_come over tonight'_

'_where are you?'_

'_Roxas, you have fifteen minutes to get your ass over here'_

'_no one is at your house'_

'_answer me'_

' _where did you run off to?'_

'_I'm going to find you, Roxas'_

'_I miss you'_

'_you cant run from me'_

'_tell me where you are'_

'_I heard what happened. Is poor roxy just heartbroken?'_

'_finding you will be easy, so why don't you just tell me where you are?'_

'_roxas'_

My hands were shaking, but I moved onto the voice messages anyway. At least one of them was from Leon... but the other two... I dropped my phone. My voice had gone else ware, or else I would have been screaming. All I could do was open my mouth and pray that his words weren't true.

"Roxas? Roxas!" Sora yelled, running over to me. When had the water stopped? "Roxas are you okay? You're so pale! And you're shaking, Roxas, what happened?"

No. I couldn't let him know. Knowing Sora, if he found out anything was wrong he would never leave me alone. I couldn't make him worry like that. With a few shakes of the head to clear my thoughts, I smiled and nodded. "I'm fine. I was just surprised, is all. A friend of mine said that he finally got a girlfriend."

He didn't look convinced, but that didn't stop him from nodding. "Alright... but if there's anything bothering you, you can tell me okay?" he glanced over his shoulder towards the door, sniffing the air a bit, and then turned back to me with a grin. "I smell breakfast!" he jumped up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me down the stairs to the kitchen where Leon had cooked up some eggs and bacon. I sat at the counter and poked at my food, every now and then taking a small bite of my eggs.

"Your bed came in today, Roxas." Leon said after he had gotten his food and was sitting next to us at the dinner table. "Your uncle Cid and I are going to go get it and set it up in your room, so why don't you and Sora go out and get you some things? I know you need school supplies and your starting tomorrow, and maybe some clothes that wont make you melt when you walk outside."

I nodded, dumping my uneaten food into the garbage disposal and going to pick out my shoes from Sora's room while he finished eating. We left the house around ten thirty, Riku waiting patiently for us outside. I didn't really understand the relationship between those two. It was easy to see how much Riku changed when he was with Sora. He had always been a bit of a bully to me, and yet acted like his whole world revolved around my cousin. I had only been around them for a day, but based on that and when I was still living here, I had enough knowledge to know that whenever I saw Sora, more often than not Riku wouldn't be too far off.

We drove down to the mall, which was less than ten minutes away. I had to admit, living on an island had it's perks; it didn't take thirty minutes to get where you wanted to go, and that was when the roads were clear. The second we stepped foot in the mall, Sora was dragging me to different stores so fast I had no time to think. We spent about twenty minutes in each store, mostly him and Riku picking out clothes for me that I would never wear. Occasionally they would try to get me to try things on, but anything that didn't have long sleeves I refused.

"Come on, Roxas!" Sora begged, pushing the pile of shirts towards me. "How will we know if they fit unless you try them on?"

"I'm not gonna do it." I said, crossing my arms.

"Please?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Just no."

Sora pouted and turned to Riku, who was busy browsing through the numerous amounts of t-shirts. "Riku? Can't you tell Roxas to try on at least one outfit?"

"He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to, Sora." Riku sighed, handing him a few more shirts. "Lets go get some food, I'm hungry."

"Oh yeah! I totally forgot about food!" Sora grinned, cheering up immediately. "Alright, lets go pay for these and then it's onward to the food court!"

Riku grinned, for the first time directing his gaze solely on me. His eyes held a sort of knowing, as if he could tell I was anxious. And as if on cue, my phone began buzzing in my pocket. I tensed automatically, hesitating to reach into my pocket. I didn't want to see. I knew who it was.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Sora asked, suddenly back and with three bags full of clothes and leaning over my shoulder.

"No. It's not important..." I said quietly, but I couldn't help the shivers that crept up my spine at the thought of what would happen once he found me. At least I could pretend to enjoy my time here, for now.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay first off i have to clear something up real quick! Two of my reviews asked why Roxas wasn't talking to Axel or if the person on the phone was Axel... the person that Roxas has been talking about is NOT Axel! it's someone else! Axel and Roxas haven't met yet, and you find out in this chapter who the person is. Sorry if anyone else thought that too, I guess hiding the name wasn't such a good idea, haha...ha... Well, anyway, I'm sorry for such a long wait on both my stories. Now without anymore interruptions, enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

Monday. A day most people hated, for the fact that it meant waking up early and going back to school or work. I didn't like Mondays either, but honestly, I didn't like _any_ weekdays. Going to school at eight in the morning to be constantly picked on or stared at was not something I looked forward to every day. My lack of sleep and decent meals was catching up to me, too. Nonetheless, I climbed out of bed at five, took a shower, got dressed, and freshened up all before Sora was even waking up. He began getting ready at six thirty, and said we were supposed to leave at seven. Luckily, unlike me, he only took ten-minute showers and was ready early, giving him enough time to make a bagel to eat on the way.

I should have known that Destiny High wouldn't be any different than my old school. The second Sora pulled me through the doors I could tell that it would be exactly the same. All I saw, filling almost the entire entryway, were girls in tiny skirts or shorts and t-shirts – some even wore tank-tops – and guys in baggy pants, some hanging so low you wondered how they stayed on at all. If someone wanted proof that stereotypes existed, this school was the perfect example, and it seemed to be overrun by the preppy and jock type.

"Come on, we need to hurry because I want to have time to introduce you to everyone!" Sora said, gently tugging on my hand to guide me past the masses of people and up the stairs to the third floor. He gave instructions on how to get to my classes and certain places and people to avoid. "You have to know that there are three main gangs here. You're lucky, because since you know me you're automatically in the good gang. That's all of us; me, Riku, Kairi... but then there's Seifer's gang. They're small in number, but they're really strong. Seifer likes to pick on anyone he thinks is weak, so if you see a guy with a beanie and a scar on his face like Dad, steer clear.

"There's one last gang. They're by far the biggest, and they call themselves Organization XIII, though their thirteenth member disappeared. No one knows what happened to her. Some say she tried to go against them and they all ganged up one her and she never came back to school. They're very close knit, and mostly made up of seniors and former graduates, but some are younger. They hang around that hallway on the left of the school that you might have seen when we came in."He sighed as we reached the top of the stairs. "Just be careful about who you meet. Oh, and this is the main office. The nurses office is right there."He pointed to the room right next to the room labeled "Main Office" where a stubby woman with short blonde hair sat at a desk on her computer. "We need to go get your password and username for your school email and your laptop and all that. Oh, and the numbers on the side of your ID is your lunch code. If you get lost, just ask one of the teachers or someone near you. Except sometimes seniors will tell you it's on the forth floor, which we don't even have... the rooms are numbered by which floor they're on. We only have three. Got it?"

I nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. You can go, your friends are waiting for you."

"Are you sure? I can stay with you and help you get your stuff-"

"Sora. I'm not going to get swept up by some gang if you leave me for a couple minutes. You have friends waiting for you downstairs so get back down there and just relax. Okay?" I said, easily forcing myself to smile.

Sora sighed, but he smiled back. "Alright. If you have time come back down and meet everybody!" Once I couldn't hear him clunking down the stairs anymore, I took a deep breath and walked through the glass doors into the main office. This was going to be a very, very long day.

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Five days. I had been in school for a week and already I hated it. I had hated it the second I stepped inside, but it was worse than I had imagined. Sora only had lunch the same time as me on Tuesdays, and even then he was too busy talking his head off with his other friends to notice that I was even there at all. I didn't go to lunch, I was starving from not eating breakfast either, _he _had started calling me in the middle of classes and I had to ignore him, and I was practically falling asleep in every class I went to. Not to mention Sora was starting to notice my lack of sleep. Since I had gotten a new bed it wasn't as obvious, but he still knew that I stayed up past midnight on my laptop every night.

It was seven at night on Sunday, and no one was home. Sora was out with Riku, and Uncle Leon and Cid were at work. I was sitting in my room, on my bed, curled into a ball in the corner against the wall. Since no one was there I had changed into a t-shirt and jeans, something I had missed wearing. My iPod was connected to my laptop and playing on shuffle, and my phone was sitting right at my feet. _He_ had been calling constantly all day. I had to put my phone on silent at school; it wouldn't stop buzzing every couple of minutes and I didn't want it taken away. I knew that the longer I waited to answer the angrier he would get, and it would only be worse for me, but I just couldn't. I couldn't answer. What if he found me? What if he was already in Destiny Islands?

I flinched when my phone started ringing again. Don't look, don't look, don't look... I leaned my chin ever so slightly over my knees to look at the caller ID. Sora. My body relaxed immediately, letting out a very rattled sigh, and pulled the phone to my ear. "Sora?"

"_Hey Roxas! Since Dad's out with Mom tonight, Riku and I are getting some Sushi from the store. What kind do you like?"_ he asked cheerfully, the sound of music drowning out his voice a little, but not enough for me not to understand him.

I sighed again. "Uh, just some California rolls are fine... um, are you going to be home soon?"

_"Yeah, about fifteen minutes or so. Why? Is something wrong? You sound kinda funny..."_

"Yeah, no, just wondering... um, I'll see you soon then." I said, waiting for him to say his goodbye before hanging up. Just before I set my phone down it started ringing again. I stopped breathing. There, in black letters underneath _Incoming Call_, was the name _Xemnas_. It rang twice, but I was frozen. A third time, and I was breathing again, but only barely. I pulled the phone to my ear, trying to control the angry shaking of my arm (and entire body) as I pressed the green button. The phone clicked to signal that I had picked up. Everything was silent. I didn't dare speak up.

_"Roxas..."_ he spoke slowly, just the sound of his voice was enough to send shivers of pure _terror_ down my spine. _"You know better than to ignore me like this... and I've been so _lonesome_ without you here... so tell me, what happened? Why did you suddenly run off like that?"_

I gulped. "I... I didn't mean to... y-you know what happened, and I... I don't have any relatives in Twilight Town... it wasn't my choice to move..." My voice was shaking uncontrollably. My entire body; it just wouldn't stay still. Hearing his voice again, it made me want to cry. I could never stand up to him. He had too much power, too much control... he could see right through me, and it terrified me. For someone like him to have so much control... and now I had gone and done something as stupid as ignoring him for a week. Was I exaggerating to be in fear of my life at the moment, just because I had answered one phone call?

_"Yes... it's unfortunate, isn't it? Loosing one's parents in such a sudden accident... and just imagine; if you hadn't had been so careless that night, it all could have been avoided..."_ my eyes widened. _"You must feel horrible, my dear Roxas... so much guilt and suffering... all because of your one mishap."_

"N-no... it's not like that!" I cried, gripping at the sheets on my bed, now being dotted with tears. "I didn't... it's not my... it was all an accident! It was just an accident... It's not like that! It's not... like that... it's not..." I couldn't stop crying, I just sat there choking on my tears and not even bothering to wipe them away. He was lying. He was just trying to get to me, was all. Besides, how could I know that I would get caught? But... still. If I hadn't gone in the first place, none of this would have happened. I would still be in Twilight Town, and sure, nothing would change, but they would be _alive_.

_"I was only stating the truth, Roxas."_ He said in that sickeningly caring voice of his. _"It would be wise of you not to ignore me again. I have to leave now. It was nice talking to you, Roxas." _And with a click the line went dead, leaving me in the silence of my room, and even after a minute of that buzzing that mean that no one was there, the phone was glued to my ear. I couldn't even hear the music anymore.

"Hey! Roxas! I've been calling for you for like five minutes! You better not be blasting your ears out with... music..." Sora pushed open the door to our room. His movements faltered for a second, but it didn't take long for him to know something was wrong and came running. "Roxas, Roxas, what happened? You're all... you're arms are... who were you talking to?"

"... I didn't kill them... right?" I whispered, covering my face with my bangs. I couldn't look him straight in the eye, I just couldn't. "It was just an accident... no one saw it coming... right?"

"Roxas...?" Sora asked quietly, gently removing the phone from my ear. "I don't really know what's going on, and I don't know who gave you that idea, but it's not true. Uncle Cloud and Aunt Tifa were hit by a speeding car. You didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

I nodded slightly, letting him pull me into a tight hug. "He... He said that if I hadn't been so careless that, that it would have been avoided..."

"Who, Roxas? Who told you that?" he begged, grabbing me by my shoulders.

I let my body go limp, my head bobbing to the side as he pushed me back wards. "X-Xemnas... he... I thought he was my friend. He had just graduated from high school... We hung out every day for almost a year, but then... he, he started getting aggressive... he made me skip school a lot... he threatened me... I... I couldn't tell him no..."

Sora let out a shaky breath. It was quiet for a long time, both of us just sitting there. "... You idiot. How long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

I shook my head. "He... he said if I did that... that he would hurt them..."

My cousin stared at me, his eyes glazed. He was about to say something when the sound of footsteps made him turn his head to see Riku appear in the doorway. "I knew something was up..." he sighed, walking over to us.

"Y-you heard..?" This was horrible. I didn't want anyone to find out! Now both Sora and Riku knew... Oh God, if he finds out...

"I heard enough to know what's going on." He nodded. At first I thought he was going to smack me on the head and tell me I was stupid for keeping this from them, but instead I felt his hand ruffling my hair. "You idiot, you really thought you could hide it? Don't worry, we're here for you. And even if it's a stupid idea, we wont tell anyone."

"Really?" I asked, sniffling as I tried to get rid of my tears.

"Of course. Besides, it's not our right to tell. You just got to promise me one thing, alright?"

"What is it?"

"You have to promise me that if anything serious happens, you'll tell an adult. You can't expect to go through something like this alone, and there's only so much two teenagers can do to help you. You got that?"

This might have been the first time I saw Riku really smile. At least, at me. He smiled at Sora all the time, but everyone else he was either straight-faced or smirking. I nodded, smiling back, though mine wasn't nearly as bright.

"Now come on, we've got some delicious sushi waiting downstairs and I'm not letting it go to waste!" he grinned, pulling both of us off of my bed before heading back down the stairs.

Sora turned to me and smiled, squeezing my hand. "Come down when you're hungry, we'll save some for you." And with that he disappeared from my room to follow Riku. I let out a shaky sigh once I was left alone, glancing at my phone one last time before going to take a long, hot shower. That was exactly what I needed at the moment.

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School started out just like any other day, except I had that feeling that today was going to suck. Not that the other days didn't, but this one just felt like it would be worse, and my point was proven when I tripped on _absolutely nothing _on our way over to Sora's friends.

Sora and Riku had been watching me more closely now; every time I checked my phone they would glance over at me, watching my reactions to the messages before turning back to whatever they were doing. I was honestly getting annoyed, and school hadn't even started yet. I already had plenty of problems to deal with at the moment, I didn't need those two watching my back every second. Besides, it wasn't like _he_ was going to show up randomly at school and suddenly take me away. No, he was too secretive for that. He'd wait for some time when I was alone, and then... I shivered. No, I didn't need to be thinking about this stuff. I had school to focus on.

It had gotten harder, over the past few days. Just keeping my eyes open was a challenge, even when I was doing something like working on homework or taking notes. I would keep dozing off in the middle of writing something, and the words would start to drift into squiggly lines instead of letters. My stomach had started to hurt almost constantly, having moved past the uncontrollable gurgles and onto more desperate measures of that needle feeling, but the more pain I was in the less of a appetite I had. I was just thankful Sora wasn't in any of my Monday classes, or else he would have definitely noticed something.

It wasn't my fault I couldn't eat. It was _him_, mostly. The constant thought that he could show up any day, any time, anywhere; it was enough to make me want to throw up, and any food that went in my mouth never got farther than that.

I had tried things like suckers and chewing gum, anything that was some time of food that I wouldn't have to swallow, and it worked to an extent, I just couldn't keep it in my mouth too long. Any type of taste started to turn sour if I ate it for more than a few minutes or so.

Things only got worse after school. Gym had just ended and although I was able to keep from doing much, there were still times when I had to put effort into what I was doing, especially near the end. We had been running around so much, even though I had done as little as possible my body just couldn't handle it. I could barely move without feeling like I had been stabbed in my guts. I don't know how long I had stood there, but when I finally closed my locker to leave, my vision blurred and legs just stopped working. I was able to hear something for a moment before I blacked out, but I couldn't tell if it was someone else or my own mind yelling at me.

"Hey, hey wake up." A voice called. "Come ooon, you gotta wake up."

I groaned, squinting my eyes open. I tried to open them further but they felt like lead, and that darkness just felt so _inviting_...

"Hey, kiddo, you're not passing out on me again, are you?" and it suddenly came to my attention that I wasn't the only person there. Shooting upright in my spot, legs on the ground and my upper half being held by some unknown person, I instantly recoiled into the fetal position, gripping my stomach at the searing pain. "Are you okay? You freaked me out just then."

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut tight. I wanted to say I was fine, but all that came out was a small, strangled whimper. Who was this person?

"Yeah, didn't think so... come on, up and at em. We gotta get you some water." The stranger said, attempting to pull me to my feet, but I shook my head and refuse to move. If it hurt so much now, who knew how much it would hurt if I stretched out? "Gonna be stubborn, are we? Fine, I'll go get you some water on my own. Stay put, and don't move."

I looked up just as he was leaving, catching a glimpse of extremely red, spiked hair. Every part of me screamed to get away from here, but I just couldn't get myself to move. I was too exhausted and in much too much pain to go anywhere, so against my better judgment, I sat patiently and waited for this person to return.

It had only taken a minute or two before I noticed someone sit down beside me, holding a bottle of water out to me. "Here ya go; one bottle of water, courtesy of Axel Mayes." He said, grinning as he waited for me to take the bottle. It was then I was able to see his face. The first thing I noticed were his eyes. They were the brightest green I had ever seen, almost as if they weren't real. Next was his hair, spiked out and all away from his face, which was thin, but not enough to look bony.

"um... thanks..." I said quietly, nodding my gratitude as I took the water, but didn't drink it right away. Would I even be able to get it down my throat? I'd probably just end up throwing it back up and making a total fool of myself.

"Do you not want it? Come on, you gotta be dehydrated." We sat in silence for a couple more seconds. "What, do you think it's poisoned or something? Here, look." the bottle was suddenly removed from my hands, watching in slight shock as he unscrewed the cap and took a drink before rubbing off the top with his jacket sleeve. "See? Perfectly clean."

I nodded, hesitating once he handed the water back, but tilted it back to take a sip, just to see if my stomach would decide to spaz out on me. Luckily it seemed fine, and I slowly started to take bigger drinks until the bottle was about half empty.

After a short silence, he finally spoke up. "Did it help at all?"

I nodded, honestly feeling about ten times better than I had, but still deathly tired, and half a bottle of water could only get me so far.

"Work yourself too hard in gym?" he laughed, patting me a little too roughly on the back of my shoulder. Unfortunately it was right on one of the more recent bruises I had gotten, and I couldn't hold back from wincing a little. A small part of me hoped that he hadn't noticed, but sadly I was mistaken when he removed his hand from my back with a questioning look. "Did you hurt yourself or something?"

I shook my head.

"Well you just winced when I touched your shoulder." he pointed out.

I didn't answer.

"... Alright, fine." he sighed, standing up. When I looked up at him I shrunk back a little. This Axel guy was_ tall_. He held his hand out to me. "You alright to walk?"

I nodded, but hesitated to take his hand. I had to admit, even for someone who wasn't socially challenged like me would think this guy was intimidating. He had that kind of borderline-gothic slash punk style, and the bright red hair, acid green eyes, and tattoos didn't help with my first impression of him.

"Come on, I don't bite." he grinned, pushing his hand closer. I glanced away before taking it, honestly surprised at how gentle he was when he pulled me back on my feet. He even held on a little longer to make sure I wouldn't topple over. "Looks like you're good to go, kid."

"...Roxas." I said, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

"huh?"  
"My name... it's Roxas."

At this he smiled, dropping his hand on my head and messing up my hair. "You're new here, aren't you?" I nodded. "Well, it can't be helped then. You should come hang out with us tomorrow before school starts. We're usually in that one hallway right next to the auditorium and the front of the school. See you around." And before I could protest, he had winked and disappeared through the glass doors and out of sight.

I stood for a minute, just kind of taking in what had happened. I was snapped back to reality when my phone buzzed, and too distracted to even check to see who it was before I answered. "Hello?"

_"Roxas! Thank goodness, I didn't think you would answer."_ Sora sighed, and it came to my attention that he was probably searching everywhere for me since I wasn't outside where we always met up before walking home. _"Where are you? I was starting to get worried you wouldn't show up."_

"Oh, sorry... I... forgot my locker combination and some of my homework was in there, so I had to find my teacher and get him to help me open it." What a lie. I hadn't been to my locker once since I first got here."I'll be out in a minute."

_"Okay, I'll be waiting."_ Sora said, sharing our goodbyes before I hung up and hurried to get up to where Sora was waiting. I tried not to think about my encounter with Axel. What was I going to do tomorrow? I had no idea what kind of people 'us' were, I wasn't sure I wanted to take my chances with meeting them and finding out the hard way that they weren't as nice as Axel had made them out to be. I sighed, turning over in my bed. I guess I would just have to figure out what I wanted to do tomorrow...

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**Please don't forget to review! They make me all happy inside and really motivate me to write. In fact, that's kind of the biggest reason as to why i got this done tonight. Thank you for reading! and i hope all confusion is cleared up. Happy New Year, by the way! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**I LIVE. Haha, so yeah, chapter 3 is officially up! I'm very excited for the next chapter. Not really anything to say, so please enjoy!

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**Chapter 3**

"So... you're gonna hang out with a kid from your class today?" Sora asked in confirmation on our way to school.

I nodded. "He said that he wanted to introduce me to some friends... so I won't be hanging out with you guys today, that okay?"

"Of course!" Sora smiled widely, pulling open the door to the school. "I'm just glad your warming up to things here. Have fun, okay? I'll see you after school!" He waved, running off towards the cafeteria.

For a while I just kind of stood there. Where did Axel say they were...? By the auditorium? I had never been in there. Where was it? He said the hallway by the entrance...

"Hey, Roxas!" I turned around to see Axel leaning against the wall by what I assumed was the auditorium, waving. "You gonna stand there all day? Come on, over here!"

I took a deep breath to gather my courage and began walking. Trying not to think about what I could be getting myself into, I made my way across the entryway and over to the group Axel was with, about fifteen or so people there.

"Alrighty, now that you're here I can introduce you." Axel said, rubbing his hands together. "Well, everybody that's here, anyway… Maybe we'll just wait till lunch for that." I think he noticed how uncomfortable I was, because he placed a hand on my good shoulder. "Hey, look sharp. You'll be fine, but if you don't start smiling Demyx may start tickling you."

I nodded, standing up straighter as someone started to walk over to us. "Hey Axe- who's this?" a boy – probably a sophomore or junior – with blonde hair that styled into a mullet leaned down until his face was way too close, examining me. I held my breath.

"This is Roxas. Roxas, this here is my best pal Demyx." Axel said, moving to sling his arm around Demyx's shoulders. "We've known each other since, like, third grade."

I nodded a hello, but to my horror I felt him suddenly grabbing my arm and pulling me over to him. My body went into panic mode as I felt the whole top half of me being crushed, and against my brain's better judgment, I let out a panicked scream. It wasn't loud, but it did attract the attention of some of the people around us.

Demyx immediately let go, stepping back a few paces as quickly as possible, and I suddenly noticed that all he was doing was trying to hug me, and I now had about fifteen people staring at me. Axel stepped forward, making me jump when he put his hand on my shoulder again. "Hey, hey, calm down. What's the problem?"

"All I did was hug him..." Demyx said, and when I glanced over at him he looked like some beaten puppy. God, why was I so stupid? He wasn't doing anything wrong. It's not like he knew that my whole body was practically one big injury.

"... I'm sorry..." I whispered. "I was just... surprised, I guess..."

"That's okay!" he smiled, looking immensely better. "I get a little excited when I get to meet new people. How about... a handshake, then?" he offered, holding out his hand for me. I nodded, giving him a small smile, and placed my hand in his. This Demyx person, he reminded me of Sora. It was kind of comforting, in a way. As if Sora were standing there instead and not over with his friends in the cafeteria.

"So, Roxas," Axel said, bringing my attention back to him. "Where'd you go before DH?"

"... I lived in Twilight Town..." I answered, staring down at my feet and leaning back against the wall for support.

"Really? You lived way out there? My cousin lives there and it takes like eight hours to get there by plane." Demyx said. "Was it like business or something?" I shook my head, dropping it lower. "Um... no... my relatives live here... so..."

"Ah, I see. So, how did you end up becoming friends with Axel?" Demyx asked, but the word friend caught me off guard. We weren't friends, were we? We had only just met yesterday, and barely even talked... that wasn't classified as friendship, was it?

"Roxas here passed out after gym yesterday so I gave him my water and we talked for a bit. He said he was new, so I thought I'd see if he wanted to hang with us. You of all people know it's hard to find people here if you didn't go to the middle school." Axel said, patting my head. What was with these people and touching others?

"Really? I've never passed out before, what's it feel like?" he asked, looking at me with awe.

"Um... well, your vision goes all weird, and then you suddenly feel cold, and after a few seconds everything goes black and you get this sinking feeling in your stomach... and then you wake up." I explained. It was weird, how much I felt like I could talk to them as if they were friends. Or... almost friends.

"Sounds creepy." Demyx shivered. "Oh, can I see your schedule, Roxas?" he asked, taking out his own from his pocket while Axel handed him a little miniature sharpie (from where I didn't see) before taking out his schedule as well.

I nodded, reaching into my pocket for my schedule, unfolding the yellow paper before handing it to Demyx for whatever reason he wanted to see it. He moved over to the wall that I was leaning on, placing the paper on the part where the wall dropped into a ledge type thing, and started to make blue squares around some of the classes on both of our sheets. At the bottom of the paper he scribbled a small square of blue and wrote his name by it. Next was Axel, who used a red sharpie to do the same as Demyx.

"There, now you know what time's your open with us." Axel grinned, handing me back my paper that was now filled with five or so red and blue squares around all of the times I was open. I immediately noticed that most of them were red and not blue.

"The cafeteria doesn't open until fourth mod, but we still hang out in there before then, so just come in there when you're open!" Demyx told me.

"We usually sit in the corner on the left side, about in the middle of the cafeteria. We get there pretty fast, so chances are you'll see one of us there. Be warned, though, the tables get crowded pretty fast." Axel winked, and I quickly averted my eyes. 'Why does he always wink?'

"The bell's about to ring." He said, switching topics completely. "Where's you homeroom?"

It took me a second to realize the question was directed at me. "O-oh, um, 322..."

"Cool, mine's close to that. I get to walk you there!" he grinned, slinging his bag over his shoulder. I did the same, checking my phone real quick before we left. I let out a sigh of relief when there were no new messages waiting for me, but I knew it would be short-lived. I couldn't hide forever.

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

"So how'd you do this morning?" Sora asked once we had gotten home, kicking off his shoes and tossing his back onto the couch.

"Um... good." I said, not really sure what to call it. I mean, it wasn't... bad, but it wasn't exactly the most comfortable experience I had to put myself through either. "The people are really... interesting."

"Who is it, anyway?"

"Um... Axel."

Sora choked on nothing, his eyes going wide as he coughed. "What? As in, Axel, Axel? The Axel?"

I nodded, using my hands to show my description of him. "Tall, spiky red hair, tattoos under his eyes?"

"Roxas! Crap, this is bad..." he groaned, making me raise my eyebrow in question. Sure, Axel didn't really come off as a very friendly guy, but was he really that bad? "Roxas, do you remember the gangs I was telling you about? Specifically... Organization XIII?" I nodded. "Axel's in that gang. He beats the crap out of people who so much as get in his way while he's walking. One false move with him and you're dead!"

"He seemed fine to me." I mumbled, avoiding eye contact by looking at the carpet.

"He's sent people to the hospital!"

"Maybe he had a reason?" I countered.

"Roxas, I'm just... I don't want anything bad to happen to you..."

I balled my hands into fists, staring down at the ground. "It's because of him, isn't it."

I felt him stare up at me with a questioning look. "What?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't think I haven't noticed you and Riku always watching me. I'm surprised you didn't follow me this morning."

"Roxas, what does that have to do with this? I'm talking about Axel. The most dangerous guy in the whole school. Trust me, Roxas, you don't want to get involved with him." Sora said, reaching to touch my shoulder. I moved away.

"But it has to do with him, doesn't it. Since you found out I barely get any time to myself without you somehow watching me. Obviously you wouldn't want me to make my own friends. I understand that you're worried and all, but I didn't ask for your help." I crossed my arms, glaring down at the floor.

"Roxas, I'm saying this because Axel is freaking weird. You don't know the kind of people he hangs out with-"

"And you do?" I snapped, turning my gaze to him.

"I've seen them! They do some pretty weird shit, Roxas. Even Riku stays away from them. The only people that dare get in his way are Seifer's gang, and they purposefully try and get him pissed, but even he knows that Axel could kill him in a heartbeat if he wanted to." Sora said, a very pleading look in his eyes.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes and decided that the best thing to do was just go upstairs. I didn't want to fight; I knew it hurt him. And honestly, all of this stuff about Axel... well, it scared me. I didn't know Axel, and I definitely didn't know his friends. For all I knew, he could turn out to be just like... him...

I went up to our room and slammed the door behind me, but it wasn't so much out of anger than it was out of fear. I was shaking, but only slightly. Hopefully it wouldn't get any worse. Sora came up about fifteen minutes later, knocking on the door first before coming in. He sat down next to me on my bed and sighed. "Look I'm sorry. Axel's just... not the best guy... I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know." I answered quietly.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, the look on his face very similar to a hurt puppy.

I sighed, letting myself fall backwards so I was laying down. "No, I'm not mad at you."

"So." He said, falling back next to me. "Let's restart a bit differently; what were Axel and his friends like?"

"Well, definitely... different." I laughed slightly. "Demyx... is really hyper. But he kind of reminds me of you."

"Seriously?" Sora groaned.

"What? I'm saying you're both obnoxious idiots." I grinned, nudging him in the side of his arm. "But everyone was... really nice. They did this whole name game thing at lunch today so I could know who they were. Apparently I look exactly like this kid Ven who left or something."

"Really? Weeiirrd."

"They aren't bad people..." I mumbled quietly. "They can look scary and they're a bit... strange, but..." "If you think they're good people, I won't stop you from hanging out with them, just... be careful, okay? I don't want to see you get caught up in something bad." Sora said, looking over at me.

I turned to look at him and nodded. "I won't."

"Alright." We lay there for a while just kind of looking at the ceiling, not saying anything. There was still some tension but I tried not to let it bother me. After a couple of minutes Sora sat up and jumped off of the bed. "Okay, enough of the depressing mood! Let's do something fun, like Mario Cart or... no! I know! Dance Dance Revolution!"

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, Sora? We haven't played that forever."

"You, maybe, but I play it with Riku all the time!" he huffed. "Now do you want to be party pooper or will you join me to a dance off?"

I stared at his hand as he held it in front of me before I took hold of his hand and grinned. "Get ready to loose."

He grinned back, pulling my to my feet. "You won't be grinning when I win."

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

When I got to school the next morning, neither Axel nor Demyx were there yet. After glancing around, I set my backpack on the ground and sat down, leaning against the wall. I pulled out my phone to check the time and for messages. It was a seven ten when I checked my phone, and about seven twenty when Axel showed up. I spotted his red hair at least ten feet from the school entrance.

"Well, look who's the early bird this morning." He grinned, dropping his bag onto the floor and sitting down in between it and myself. "So, how are you liking school so far?"

I shrugged.

"You don't talk much, do you?" he asked.

"Not really..."

"Well, you'll learn." He laughed. "So, this is gonna be really random, but do you like anime?"

I looked over at him with a questioning look. Axel was probably the last person I would expect to even know what anime was. "You like it?"

"Ah, I asked first."

"Yes, I like it." I sighed.

"Roxas, my friend, you will fit in perfectly here." He said, patting me on the back. "Do you like video games?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah, you'll be fine. Pretty much everyone here is a total geek. We started anime and games club." He explained. "If you've got free time after school Mondays and Thursdays, you should come."

"Okay." I nodded, honestly still pretty surprised that I actually found a group of people that liked anime as well.

"Hey Axel! Hey Roxas!" Demyx said, doing an almost hopping kind of motion as he came up to us and dropped his bag on the floor.

"Hey Dem." Axel grinned, grabbing Demyx's hand to pull himself up off the ground. I took this as my cue to stand as well, nodding a hello. "Guess who's joining games club?"

"Who?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Axel sighed, mumbling something under his breathe. "You're an idiot... he is, of course." He said, motioning over to me.

"Oh! Pfft, I totally knew that…" Demyx scoffed.

"Of course you did…" Axel grinned, hitting him gently on the arm. "But really, you'll love it. Games club is a lot of fun. You don't even really have to play a game, you can just chill out. That's what we usually do. And in anime club all you do is sit and watch anime, so that's a piece of cake."

I nodded in understanding, new found excitement bubbling in my stomach.

"Great! We've got three rooms, 108, 110, and 112." He said, patting my shoulder but leaving his hand on it after.

"Um… I don't know where that is…" I said, looking up towards him. Sometimes I forgot how tall Axel was, until I had to crane my neck just to see his face.

"Oh, well you know the landing?" he asked, but when I just stared blankly he sighed. "Um… okay, what's your last class on Thursday?"

"Science…" i said after checking my schedule.

"Okay. So what you'll do is go down the big staircase where a whole ton of people are usually gathered. That's called the Landing. Go up the ramp and find room 208. It's on the left and has a big piece of paper with the drawing of a warrior on it. That's usually where we meet up at first then split up into our different rooms." He took a deep, much needed breath when he finished. "Got all that?"

I nodded. "I think so..?"

"Well, do you have a cellphone?"

"Yeah, right here…" I said, taking the small red device out of my pocket to show him.

"Great, I'm gonna put my number in. So if you can't find us, just call or message me." Axel said, taking the phone from my hand and after a couple seconds of silent clicking, he handed it back.

"There, now you've got my number."

"Um, okay…" I said, staring at it for a second before it was back in my pocket.

"Bell's gonna ring, so get your stuff." he said, reaching for his own bag. About half a minute later the bell rang, and we all began making our way to our homerooms.

It had occurred to me as we were walking that I had no idea what grade he was in. So, while we were walking, I gently poked his arm to get his attention. "Um, this is probably stupid but.. uh, what grade are you in?" I asked quietly.

"Me? Sadly I'm still a sophomore." He sighed, and when I gave him a questioning look he explained. "I was held back last year. I'm actually sixteen, but I'm still a sophomore. Kind of sucks thatmy birthday is in August too, so I'm not gonna be seventeen until school starts next year."

"Oh." Was all I could come up with for an answer. I was kind of surprised that Axel wasn't older. I had always thought he was a senior. That day, I discovered that Axel was in my art class, along with science and French. It was kind of nice, knowing that I had a friend in at least a few of my classes. The only problem was that there was no possible way for me to sneak away during my lunch mods when he was there, forcing me along with him because he knew I was open, but the part that wasn't absolutely pissed at him for dragging me to the lunch room was thankful, because if it weren't for him, I wouldn't eat at all.

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**There ya have it, folks! Hopefully chapter 4 will be up soon. I'm trying to do this thing where I switch which stories i update, so hopefully either Behind Blue Eyes or Addicted will be updated next, but I'm really inspired with this one so who knows xD Please review! It makes me so happy when you do!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey hey hey! How are my dearest readers? Good? I hope so. Me? Not so much, but hey, the good thing is I got another chapter up. Things are gonna be gettin' interesting here pretty soon! Hope you can keep your socks on! (lol yeah that probably won't be too hard, I suck at writing suspense). Welp, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 4**

"Um… can I come in?" I asked, knocking lightly on Uncle Leon's study room door.

"Sure." I heard him say, and I pushed the door open all the way to walk in.

"I was wondering, if, um… can I join games club? It's after school on Thursdays until seven and then anime club too, on Mondays until five…" I asked, my words speeding up as I anticipated his answer.

"Yeah, go ahead. Tomorrow's Thursday, isn't it? I'll pick you up after work, then." He said, taking a sip of his coffee. I thanked him, but as I turned to leave he stopped me. "Hey, Roxas… If you ever need to talk, you've got any of us here. Either me, or Cid, or Sora. I just wanted to let you know."

"Alright." I nodded, closing the door behind me as I walked out and up to Sora's… _our _room. It had been over a week, but I was still getting used to the fact that his room was also my room. Regardless, I had gone upstairs, collapsed onto my bed with a loud huff, and for the first time in a while I was able to at least get a few hours of sleep in.

The weird thing about sleep for me, was that the more of it I got, the more exhausted I was. Maybe it was because sleep was never good for me. Waking up panting and heart racing about ready to throw up wasn't a very fun experience. When I didn't sleep, I didn't dream, so my heart stayed quiet, for the most part. Maybe that was why I was so much more tired than usual the next day.

For most of Thursday I was nervous. I was nervous about games club, and what it would be like. I wasn't really sure what to expect. What calmed me down, at least slightly, was that Axel was in my science class, which was the last class of the day. This meant that there would be no worry of getting lost, because he would be able to lead me there. I was surprised when I walked in to see a lot more kids than what usually hung out with us during the day.

"Here, you can set your stuff down on the table somewhere." Axel said, dropping his bag onto one of the tables, which were lined up with two corners to make a rectangle, just with one side missing. "Once some more people get here, we'll play Apples to Apples or something, how bout it?"

I nodded, setting my bag next to his. In merely a few minutes Demyx showed up, along with a few others I knew to be Marluxia, Larxene, and Zexion. After some announcements, most people left to go to one of the other rooms, leaving us six and a few others that I didn't know.

"Alright, what do you guys want to play?" Axel asked, clapping his hands together. "We've got Life, Apples to Apples, Monopoly, and… Clue."

"Dude, no to Monopoly." Demyx said. "That game is evil. There's no way to win it!"

"No, it just takes too long and you don't have the patience." Marluxia stated. "I pick Life."

"I second that." Larxene said, raising her hand in the air.

"Apples to Apples!" Demyx cheered.

"I'd personally like Clue, but I doubt that will win." Zexion sighed.

"Roxas?" Axel asked, waiting for my answer.

I quickly scrambled in my brain to decide, every thought scrambling over the other as I started to get flustered from everyone staring at me. "U-um, Life is good."

"Alright, looks like Life wins. Sorry Zexy." Axel grinned, taking out the desired game and passing it off to Demyx.

Zexion glared, probably the first emotion I'd seen since I met him, and made a very threatening remark. "How about if you call me that again I'll ram a pole up your ass."

"Ooh kinky, I like it." Axel smirked. "But, alas, I'm never the uke, Zexy."

"You're disgusting." Zexion grimaced, turning back to the game that was mostly set up. I watched in slight confusion and slight amazement at how they acted. They were so different than Sora's group of friends. While with Sora they usually talked about this latest gossip and that latest trend, and I was usually left out of the mix, but with Axel and everyone else it was like I had been there with them for years. They opened up and let me join their group, making sure I knew what was happening and even asking my opinion on things.

The game went on for a while, lots of conversation going on and sometimes we forgot who's turn it was. During the game we had all decided to name the children we had crazy, random names and Axel and Demyx made their little blue characters married to guys while Larxene married her's to a girl. Part of me wondered if that meant anything, or if they were just joking around. Zexion, being the smartest out of us, was the banker, and surprisingly Demyx was winning with a whole lot of cash and most of the Life tiles. I was squished in between Axel and Marluxia, staying quiet for most of the game but still reading out what I landed on and occasionally laughter would slip out if someone made a joke. I was surprised at myself, really. I had almost forgotten what it was like to sit down and hang out with friends. With people who wanted to be with you.

Apparently I wasn't the only one surprised when Demyx smiled at the end of his turn, looking up at me as I laughed at a joke that Larxene had made. "So, we finally get to see some of the real Roxas, huh?" He grinned, giving me a thumbs up. "Smile more often, okay?"

I stopped for a second, staring at him and just taking in what he had said, before I smiled and nodded. Yeah, I had to be happy. I had to keep up this smile at least while things were as good as they are. Axel grinned and patted my shoulder. I blushed slightly and looked away. If only… if only things could have stayed so good.

Once we had finished our game of Life, we moved on to Apples to Apples, Axel and Zexion tied for first place with the most green cards by the end. To my surprise, I was actually second. Even though I didn't win, I still had a pretty big smile on my face, and Axel laughed at how excited I was. Again, I couldn't keep myself from blushing.

When I got home, I fell onto my bed and hugged my pillow. Wow… it had gone by so fast. Sora walked in not long after, sitting on the edge of my bed. "So, how was…?" he asked, struggling to remember what it was I had stayed after for.

"Games club." I said, earring a nod. "It was fun. We played Life and lots of other games, they… they're really nice."

"If you say so." He shrugged.

I sighed. "Still suspicious?"

"Well you can't expect me to just instantly like them. Oh no, if you're going to convince me, I'll need good, hard evidence." He huffed, and suddenly the subject was changed. "So, do you like your classes so far?"

"Umm, yeah I guess." I said, slightly confused. Who just changes the subject like that so suddenly? Sora, I guess, but still. "Axel's in my French class, and science. I can't believe I didn't notice earlier."

"How old is he anyway?" Sora asked.

"He's.. sixteen, I think. He's a sophomore."

"Really? I thought he was eighteen!" He gasped.

"Nope, he's sixteen." I repeated, sitting up to pull my backpack onto my bed. I had quite a bit of homework to do and I really wanted to get it done. Plus I had nothing better to do with my extremely boring life at the moment. Sora joined me, both of us sharing my bed and within a couple minutes we were situated and working, everything quiet except for the music playing from my laptop. Not long after my phone buzzed, signaling a message. Sora and I directed our attention to the phone on my nightstand, and I hesitated to grab it. I started breathing again when I saw it was only Axel, but then I was surprised. This would be the first time he'd sent me a message.

_'hiya, so did you have fun at club? think you'll come back?'_

I smiled slightly, shoving Sora away when he tried to read over my shoulder. _'yeah, i had fun. i'll definitely come back. anime club is on monday right?'_

"Who was it?" Sora asked, still trying to look ore my shoulder.

"It was Axel. He asked if I had fun at club and if I'd be coming back." I explained, setting my phone down next to me and continuing with my work, stopping every now and then to text Axel.

_'that's good. yeah it's on mondays. I can't go next week but demyx will be there'_

I thought for a moment. Axel wouldn't be there… _'okay, i'll probably go check it out… what room?'_

_ '222. it's the little theater on the landing, know where that is?'_

_ 'um.. yeah I think. Isn't that the room they use for healthy living? with the projector and the big rows of desks?'_

_ 'that's the one! so you'll be able to get there okay. don't forget it ends at 5.'_

_ 'alright thanks'_ I said, forgetting about homework as we messaged back and forth, Axel asking random questions about anything from life back in Twilight Town to my favorite color. Sora rolled his eyes when I laughed quietly at our conversation. I shot him a look but he ignored it, instead watching as I hurried to write a reply.

"Oh my god." he said suddenly, his eyes widening.

"What" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

At this he grinned, and when Sora grinned you _knew_ he was thinking something evil. "I can't believe it, you_ like_ Axel."

My face suddenly went bright red. What the heck was he talking about! "Sora! Are you insane!"

"Judging by the look on your face, I"m not." he said, grinning wider. "Admit it! You've got a thing for Axel."

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm not exactly interested in a relationship at the moment?" I growled. Seriously, dating was probably the last thing that was on my mind. Especially with everything that was going on.

"The universe doesn't care if you 'don't feel like it,' you like him whether you want to or not." Sora said matter-of-factly, closing his laptop to look at me. "Admit it, Roxas."

"I do not, nor will I ever!" I yelled. "Besides, I thought you didn't like Axel! Why are you trying to convince me I like him?"

He wagged a finger at me. "Because whether I like him or not has nothing to do with how you feel about him. Plus, I said that you'd be able to change that. A difficult task, but it's still possible. You're face lights up every time you got a message from him and every time I ask you about your friends it's pretty much all Axel I hear about."

I opened my mouth to speak, but shut it when only a very flustered squeak came out. Sora laughed in triumph, patting me on the back. "Don't worry, if what I can guess from all those smiley faces he's been sending you, he likes you back. Plus I should know, not only did I find a successful two year relationship but I've been a love expert for years."

"Oh, so Riku finally asked you out?" I smirked.

"W-w-w-what! I meant _Kairi_, you doofus!" he yelled, now his turn to be embarrassed.

"That's a shame, then." I sighed dramatically. "Riku's liked you for a such a long time. Guess he lost his chance then." I proceeded to leave the room, grabbing a change of clothes on the way for me to get ready for bed in the bathroom. After a much needed shower, that is.

Sora sat dumbfounded as I left, his face red and mouth hanging open. I had to snicker to myself. It was a well known fact between all of us, excluding Sora, that Riku was madly in love (okay maybe that's over doing it) with him, so much that he even liked him when _I_ still lived there, and that's saying something. I could have sworn that they had gotten together by now. Hopefully Riku wouldn't kill me for revealing his (not so very) secret.

Despite my victory, I couldn't get what Sora had said out of my mind. Did I… really like Axel? Sure, okay, so maybe I blushed when he talked to me and he was tall and had really pretty eyes and not to mention his muscles- yeah, point taken… So maybe I _did_ like him a little - you hear me? A LITTLE - but I couldn't deal with having a crush at the moment. Besides, if… if _he_ found out, well, we'd both be dead. Literally.

Even though the water was warm, I got goosebumps just at the thought of _him_ knowing I liked someone else. Oh god, if _he_ figured out that Sora and Riku knew about him… I clutched at my arms, not really caring that my nails were digging into my skin so much that soon enough I'd be drawing blood. I crouched onto the floor, letting the now lukewarm water fall over my hair and into my eyes, making them sting with a mixture of slightly soapy water and tears. This was exactly why I didn't want them to know… they'd all be _dead_ if he found out! '_calm down.. calm down… don't worry, he won't find out, right? he won't know… he won't know at all!'_

I wiped my eyes on the towel and shut the water off, staying on the floor for a few more minutes before that empty feeling in my stomach went away enough to give me strength to stand. My hair could go without conditioner for a day, I just needed to lay down for a while. Maybe I would feel better in the morning…

..::__**ღ**_∆**๒๒**ץкℓиՀ_**ღ**__::..

"Roxas, you okay? You're kind of zoned out." Axel said, waving a hand in my face.

I blushed, shaking my head free of the hazy feeling I had. It was only halfway through the day but I had been falling asleep in every class, and lunch wasn't really an exception. I just started to stare off and the next thing I knew my head was falling and I would snap back awake, and class was over. I nodded, taking a small bite of my fries. "Y-yeah, just kind of tired.."

"Hm, you don't look so hot." he said, placing the back of his hand on my forehead and cheeks. "You feel kind of warm… hold still." my eyes widened when I saw him lean in, eyes closed and lips just barely grazing my forehead for a second or two before he pulled away again. "Contrary to popular belief, you're actually supposed to press lightly, not just totally smash your lips against their head." he grinned. "But yeah, you might have a bit of a fever."

"I don't think making him blush is helping." Demyx chuckled, poking at my cheek.

I quickly swatted his hand away and hid my face. "I-I'm not blushing!"

"Then why is your face so red?" he asked. "It even got to your ears!"

"B-b-because, I-I'm not feeling well, s-s-so…" my voice slowly trailed off, all of us fully aware of why I had been blushing. Well, it wasn't really my fault. Wouldn't you blush if an extremely attractive guy kissed you on the forehead? Not really a kiss, but still. There was lip to forehead contact and that counted to me.

"Well," Axel chuckled. "Your forehead does feel kinda warm, so if you're not feeling good you should head home. At least go up to the nurses office and lay down for a bit."

"No… it'll pass." I said quietly. "I have a pretty weak immune system, so… it's not uncommon for me to get lots of small fevers and stuff…"

"Alright, if you say so. But if you start feeling any worse, go home, okay?" Axel said, and although he was still grinning there was that slight hint of worry in his voice and eyes as he patted my shoulder.

The bell rang, signaling the end of our lunch together and we all stood to leave. "Where ya headed?" Axel asked me, slinging his bag over his shoulder as we started walking out of the cafeteria.

"Um… I've got English." I told him, checking my schedule.

"What teacher do you have?"

"Uhh I've got Mr. Gekko."

"Oh man," Axel laughed. "Saix? Boy do I feel sorry for you. Just remember not to make him mad. He may seem pretty calm but the _tiniest_ thing makes him go completely psycho. Demyx and I always piss him off."

"He's scary." I sighed. "He's always looking at me, it's creepy…"

"Don't hold it against him, he's been like that forever." he grinned. "So, got any plans for the weekend?"

I shook my head. "Not really…"

"Well if you can, meet me by the auditorium after school. Dem and I are going to the park so you should come."

I thought about it for a second, then nodded. Sora shouldn't mind too much, besides he'd probably be happy to hang out with Riku all weekend. "Okay."

"And, here's your class." He said, opening the door to room 106, and as I walked in he ran back down the hallway, waving. "See ya later, Rox!"

"Bye." I said quietly, waving back before quickly going to my seat, avoiding the curious glances I got from my classmates and burning glare from Mr. Gekko. What that guy's problem with me was, I had no idea. Ever since my first day of class he was staring at me. Whether it was just my paranoia or what, I had a very eerie feeling around him.

The last few classes I had went by quickly, and I was definitely more awake now that I had something to look forward to. Not that I didn't drift off from my normal aloofness, but still. Most of my weekends were just staying at home, but now I'd get to be with Axel. Axel… I couldn't help but smile a bit. One more class and I'd be able to see him again. Sadly, that class seemed to go by the slowest.

When the bell rang for the end of school I almost tripped over my desk as I hurried to find my way to the auditorium. Axel was waiting where we always were in the mornings, and when he saw me he grinned and waved. "Alright, lets go. Demyx had to go home and take care of his dogs, so he's meeting us there."

I nodded in understanding, adjusting my backpack nervously. I'd never hung out with them outside of school before. "Oh, I have to call Sora…" I said, remembering that I still had to tell him that I'd be with them instead of walking home together like we usually did. This time Axel nodded, and quickly pulled out my phone as we walked, pressing the speed dial for my cousin.

_"Hiya, Roxas! What's up?"_ He asked cheerfully.

"Um, I'm gonna hang out with Axel and Demyx today… go home with Riku, and tell Leon, okay?" I said, following behind Axel. He took such big steps, it was hard to keep up with him.

_"Ooh, going on a date, I see? And making Demyx be the third wheel, how mean."_ he teased.

"S-Sora! It's not a date! We're going to the park, jeez!" I sighed, my face going bright red. Axel turned around to look at me, both surprised and curious. Come to think of it, that was probably the first time he heard me talk so loudly.

_"Uh-huh, sure. Have fun on your date!"_

"It's not a date!" I yelled back, huffing in frustration when he just laughed and said he was only kidding before we said our goodbyes.

"Sora's really something, isn't he." Axel laughed.

"Sorry about that…" I mumbled, stuffing my phone back in my pocket, but it only started buzzing again. Taking it back out, I froze. _No_. No no no, why did he have to call _now_, of all times? "H-hello?" I said weakly, placing the phone to my ear.

_"Hello, Roxas."_ He spoke slowly, a smirk clear in his voice. _"Are you enjoying school? I see you've made friends with Axel…"_

"W-what? How did you…" I took a step back, looking up at Axel in horror before looking around the entire area. He was here.

_"Oh yes, I've finally found you… Now, I wouldn't want to keep your little date waiting…"_

"I-it's not…" I whispered, but choked on the lump in my throat and went quiet.

_"See you soon, Roxy."_ And the line went dead, leaving me to stand there.

Axel turned around, a little ways ahead and looked at me in confusion. "Yo, Rox, you coming..? What's wrong?" He asked, now right in front of me.

I shook my head, unable to speak.

"Roxas? Is your fever back? Maybe we should take you home instead." he offered, checking my forehead and cheeks with his hand.

I shook my head. "N-" I cleared my throat, my voice about ten times higher than normal. "No, it's okay… Um, lets go…"

He started down at me for a second with a very critical eye, then sighed. "Alright, well, remember what I said; if you start feeling any worse at all, we're taking you home."

I nodded, following behind. Our walk to the park was silent, apart from all the noises from the streets and birds and such. Demyx was waiting for us on a bench positioned right under a tree. Axel called over to him, waving his hand in the air. Demyx jumped off of the bench and ran to us, his smile five times wider than it had been.

"Hey! What took you guys so long?" He asked, leading us back to the bench.

"Roxas had to let his brother know where he was going and stuff." Axel explained, kindly leaving out the part after that. The three of us sat comfortably in the shade, and for the most part it was only Demyx and Axel talking. I couldn't stop being distracted by every sound and every thing I saw. Knowing that _he_ was here, knowing that _he_ was watching, I just… I couldn't sit still.

..::__**ღ**_∆**๒๒**ץкℓиՀ_**ღ**__::..

"This is it." I said quietly, tugging on Axel's shirt when he started to pass my (it still felt so weird calling it that…) house.

"Wow, this is nice." He said, looking up to admire the unique building. It was all white, two stories with one wall on the bottom level that was all floor length windows. From there you could see inside, and low and behold Leon and Cid were in the living room watching some random TV show.

"I guess." I sighed, walking down the stone path and up the three stairs to the porch. When we reached the door, I turned to look at him. "Um… thanks for inviting me…"

"Hey no problem. We're friends, right? You're welcome to hang with us any time." he grinned, ruffling my hair. "Feel better, alright?"

I nodded, blushing slightly. "Bye."

"Buh-bye!" he waved, hopping down the stairs, but just as he reached the end of the path, he turned and grinned at me. "Oh, and one more thing! Miluju tě."

"What?" I asked in confusion, but he only winked and was headed off down the street. I would have gone after him but the door opened behind me.

"What are you doing standing out there? Come on, inside before you catch a cold." he said, ushering me inside with a pat on the back.

I kicked off my shoes and headed upstairs, ignoring Cid when he greeted me and went straight to my room. Sora wasn't there, as I had expected, leaving me to my own thoughts. Great. As I fell onto my bed and turned up my music, all I could think about were two things; that Xemnas was here, and what Axel had said. I didn't know what that meant, 'mill-oo-ee-ta.' It sounded like some weird saying, a different language, maybe. I kept mumbling it to myself as I thought, wondering what it meant. I fell asleep around three that night, praying to whatever god may exist up there, that maybe - just maybe, things would turn out alright for once.

* * *

**OOookkaay. Two things!**

**1. Saix Gekko - Gekkō means moonlight in Japanese (or at least according to Google Translate it does .)**

**2. Miluju tě - The only hint I will give you, is that it's Czech. You probably already know what it means, but hey, lets just pretend that you don't, yeah?**

**HOPEFULLY you enjoyed this little update. I'll be working on chapter 5 soon, but I also have 2ish other stories in need of updates, as well as about 120ish others that I work on from time to time that are on my flashdrive xD Please review, please? Pretty please? With whipped cream and a Roxas on top?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well isn't this exciting? Chapter five is already up! I'm not gonna waste your time so hurry up and read! Don't forget to review! Hopefully chapter six will be up soon!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"-xas. Roooxas, wake up."

I opened my eyes slowly, taking in my surroundings. I was at school, leaning against the wall with my legs curled up loosely. Axel was crouching next to me, nudging my shoulder. "What…?"

"You fell asleep, it's time for class." He said, holding out a hand to help me once he stood up.

"Oh…" I yawned, taking his hand without thinking. The force of the pull yanked my sleeve down a bit, just barely revealing one of many bruises. Or maybe it was a cut, I couldn't remember.

"Whoa, wait a sec." Axel said, suddenly holding my hand up in the air and yanking the sleeve down. My eyes widened and I tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong. "Roxas… what_ is_ this?" He asked, his eyes growing wide as well, maybe even wider than mine.

I stayed quiet, averting my gaze. No! I didn't want this to happen… No one was supposed to find out about this… How could I explain myself? I had to think of something, quick… Nothing. Nothing came to mind. Nothing could get me out of this.

"Did… you do this?" he asked quietly.

"Not… really…" I mumbled, keeping my gaze solely on the ground. I didn't want to look up. I didn't want to see his expression. If I did, I don't think I'd be able to keep myself from crying.

"What do you mean_ 'not really'_?"

I finally wiggled my hand free, pulling the sleeve back down so everything was covered. Instead of answering, I shook my head, grabbed my backpack, and ran. I didn't look where I was going, but soon I found a bathroom and locked myself in the closest stall. I stayed in there until the bell rang for the end of homeroom, hoping that the coast would be clear after fifteen minutes. Thankfully I was correct.

The day dragged on for a long time. Classes were slow, open mods were spent away from the lunch room, eye contact was nonexistent during classes we shared, and I avoided using hallways that I remembered passing him in. I was late to most of my classes, simply from walking slowly and getting lost most of the time. I still didn't have the whole layout of the school down. I managed to get through without having to say anything to him, but every time I glanced at him during class his eyes were focused solely on me. I could never make out the look on his face.

Once I was home things didn't get much better.

I was able to get in a few hours of alone time in my room, trying desperately to drown out my worrying mind via extremely loud music through my headphones, but it didn't work to well. I was scared. I didn't know what he was going to do. Would he be angry? Sad? Would he think I was pathetic for doing something so stupid, even though half of it wasn't even me? What if… what if he told a bunch of people that I hurt myself? What if he thought I did it just to get attention? What if he told them that?

My eyes widened and I rolled over, hugging my pillow tightly. What was I supposed to do? I didn't want him to worry or not like me anymore or something, but I was too scared to talk to him… Oh man, what was I supposed to do? Could I just… tell him about everything? Or maybe I could just tell him about the car accident and leave it at that… Yeah, that's what I'd do… Oooh, but I didn't want to lie to him…

"Roooxas, I'm home!" Sora called, knocking on the door as he opened it, completely destroying the point of knocking. "Riku's here!"

I groaned in hello, my face still buried in my pillow.

"Hey, why the sour face?" He asked, poking the top of my head.

"Nothing." I sighed, rolling over so that I was facing the wall.

Obviously he wasn't convinced. "Roxas?" he asked again, lightly placing his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine." I said, this time sitting up and hopping off of my bed. "Just thinking." Leaving the room, I nodded a hello to Riku, who nodded in return.

"If you say so." Sora sighed, plopping down in front of the TV in the corner of the room. "Riku's spending the night, so maybe go to one of your friend's houses? Or if you want to hang out with us you can. Riku won't mind, right?" he asked, turning to his silver haired friend for confirmation, who simply shook his head.

I shook my head. "I'll go out for a bit. Don't have too much fun." I smirked, winking at Sora and then ducking out of the room just as a pillow was flying towards my face. I sighed at the short moment of happiness, slipping on my shoes and plugging my headphones into my ears. My thoughts lingered on the slight curiosity of what Axel was up to at the moment.

The air felt nice, a soft breeze ruffling the trees whose leaves had begun to change color and the soothing smell of autumn filled the air. It was peaceful, but I was still on edge. Another thought had come to me while I was walking, and it left a very unsettling feeling in my stomach. Xemnas had called Axel by his name. How did he know…

I shook my head. No, it must have just been some weird coincidence. Surely he knew everything there was to know about everything, and with that knowledge knew who I was hanging out with. But maybe… what if they knew each other…?

I smacked my forehead for such a horrible thought. How could I even think that the two would know each other? Axel was my friend, he wouldn't do something like… give away… where I was… _No! Stop it! Axel has nothing to do with him! Just forget about it and keep walking_. I took a deep breath and turned the music up louder, trying desperately to block out my thoughts. It didn't really work too well.

Making my way down the street, I began to recognize the area, and without thinking, strode off onto a dirt path and began walking towards the park that Axel and I had gone to the day before. Avoiding the occasional biker and stopping to pet someone's dog if they let me, I was glad to be able to distract myself for a few peaceful minutes.

My stroll through the park was rather rudely interrupted when someone yelled out from behind me, where I had stopped to let a stray cat run past me. "Hey, Roxas, look out!" The person yelled, and when I turned around my eyes widened at the familiar face before I was pummeled by a bike, the two of us flying off the path.

I let out a high pitched squeal from both shock and pain as my head smacked the dirt, my back coming soon after that, the two of us tangled up with his bike.

"Sorry, Roxas! You stopped so quickly, I couldn't get out of the way soon enough." Axel said, kicking the bike away and scrambling to help me up as I clutched at my head. "Guess I was going a bit faster than I thought… Are you okay?"

"F-fine…." I groaned, brushing off the dirt on my clothes with one hand and trying to hold my head up straight with the other. When I moved my hand, Axel gasped.

"Holy shit…" he breathed, hesitantly going to inspect the bump on my head. I hadn't thought much of it besides a new headache, but when I felt something drip down my face I started I realized that it might have been a bit more serious of a hit than I thought. "Umm… I'm gonna call Zexion."

I nodded slowly, leaning against a tree as Axel hurried to call his friend. A few short moments later, he grabbed me by my arm and was pulling me over to his bike. "Okay, we're going back to my house. Zexion's meeting us there. I want you to hold on tight, okay?" He instructed, climbing onto the bike. I stood there for a few minutes before I noticed that I was supposed to get on too.

"Where do sit…?" I asked, seeing as there was only one seat.

"See those things sticking out on the back tire? Put your feet on those and hold onto either my stomach or my shoulders." he said, pointing to the tire. I gulped, but climbed on as well and lightly placed my hands on his shoulders.

"You're gonna want to hold on tighter than that." He said, and suddenly he was speeding down the path. I let out a yelp in surprise, releasing my arms for a split second to wrap them around his stomach instead. I could tell he was laughing when his chest shook, making me blush slightly. "Told you." he called over his shoulder.

It took maybe five minutes to reach Axel's house, a place I had never seen and was honestly surprised at how big it was. It wasn't a mansion or anything, but it was definitely quite a bit bigger than my house, which I found to be pretty average in size. Axel slowed to a stop when we reached the driveway and helped me get off (though it wasn't necessary) and lead me inside to sit on the couch. "Zexion should be here soon, but right now I'll get you some-" he was cut off when the doorbell rang. "Never mind. Stay here." he instructed before going to get the door.

There was some talking in the distance between the two before they came back into the room. Zexion sighed upon seeing me. "Axel, what did you do _now_?"

"Eh heh, well I was kind of riding on my bike and he just stopped right in front of me, and… yeah…" Axel chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"You know you should have taken him to the doctor." He said, going to rinse of a washcloth and then pat it on my head. I winced, but didn't say anything.

"Well doctors cost money and that's far away. Plus you're as good as any doctor."

"Not with the way you ride you're bike it's not." Zexion sighed. "But anyway, since you're here there's no use arguing. Be sure to tell me if you start feeling lightheaded." He told me, and after a few minutes of him working on disinfecting and cleaning the injury of any blood, dirt or bacteria and then bandaging it, he left the house, saying he had somewhere to be.

And I was left alone with Axel.

There was a brief silence between us before Axel coughed and went to grab something out of his fridge. I followed him into the kitchen. "So, since you're here might as well stay for a while and hang out. Want a soda?" he asked, surprisingly calm and collected.

"U-um, sure." I nodded, poking my fingers together. It didn't look like anyone else was at the house, and that made me nervous. And what if he brought up my arms? No alibi would cover that. Maybe the car crash… but I didn't want to lie. Besides, knowing Axel he'd probably see through it anyway.

He kicked the door closed and handed me one of the two sodas in his hand. "Here ya go. It's all we got, so I hope you like it."

I nodded again, taking a small sip once I managed to get it open. There was silence. My eyes stayed glued to the floor and I couldn't help but shift my feet nervously and chew at my cheek, a bad habit I picked up somewhere during my childhood.

"Roxas?" I jumped at the sound of my voice, immediately staring up at him. "Wanna watch a movie or something?"

"S-sure." I said, sitting at the far end of the couch. I didn't know if it was just my nerves or what, but I felt like he was sitting too close. I kept my hands folded in my lap as we picked out a random movie to watch. It was some kind of comedy – or at least, I think it was. At the beginning I almost thought it was horror, what with the zombies showing up, but the way this man reacted to it… as if he hadn't noticed at all made me laugh.

What I felt was halfway through, the man and his best friend had managed to defeat some of the zombies, ran to pick up his mom and dad (which ended badly, might I add), managed to find a group of people they were familiar with and barricade themselves in a bar. I watched in amazement and even laughed at parts. Axel seemed to enjoy the movie as well, his laughs much more controlled but still obvious. Part of me wondered how many times he had seen this movie. All of my insecurities vanished as we continued to watch, laughing at funny parts and jumping at the scary ones.

It was towards the end of the movie, though, when I was huddled against Axel's side, eyes wide when the sudden swarm attacked the bar. He laughed at my excitement, and chancing a look, I realized he never took his eyes off me. Our eyes were locked, silently staring into the other's gaze until I realized him getting closer, and closer, and closer…

My breath caught in my throat when he placed one hand on the armrest and the other on the back cushion, effectively trapping me in the corner of the couch. My mind went completely blank when his lips were on mine, staying completely still as if asking if this was okay, but I was unresponsive.

Then he started moving; slowly, at first. My eyes were open and I stared at his lidded green eyes, not really protesting or contributing. I didn't know what to do. A mere second or two later my eyelids began to get heavy and I found myself enjoying the feeling, slowly – timidly – wrapping my arms loosely around his back. Axel shifted so he was facing me completely, one hand moving to my neck but his body almost completely against me, pressing me into my corner.

_His hand wound around my neck, gently caressing before squeezing tightly with no intention of letting go._

My eyes snapped open and I ceased all action, but Axel seemed unfazed, his tongue slipping into my mouth when I gasped.

_I clawed at the hand, gasping for air as tears fell down my cheeks. "You've been a bad boy, Roxas…"_

"STOP!" I screamed, my voice cracking as I kicked and squirmed, pushing away and crawling out of his grasp as quickly as I could, falling over the armrest in the process.

"Roxas! Are you okay?" Axel asked, jumping over the back of the couch.

I scrambled to my feet, fighting the tears but failing horribly. "G-get away! Please, don't touch me!"

"I'm sorry, I thought…" he stopped, meeting my eyes for a split second before I turned and ran out of the house, ignoring his calls. I just had to get out of there – I had to get away from him. "...Roxas!"

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"Roxas!" Sora cried, jumping up when I pushed the door open and fell onto my bed. "Where were you? I thought you just went on a walk, you've been gone for-…. Are you okay? Are you crying? What happened?"

I shook my head, burying my face in my pillow to hide, but only making myself more obvious that something was wrong. It didn't help that I was shaking and my head was throbbing from the hit I had gotten.

Sora placed a hand on my shoulder. "Riku, do you think we could hang out later? Sorry, but..." Riku just nodded in understanding – or at least, I thought he did, seeing as there was silence before the door closed. "Roxas, calm down okay? Deep breathes."

I tried to do as he said, taking deep breathes but they all came out shaky. I turned my head to the side, suffocating from the lack of air when my face was in my pillow. Sora frowned when he saw me and rubbed my shoulder. I could only imagine how shaken I looked. "Rox, can you tell me what happened?

I nodded slowly, keeping my mouth shut for a good couple seconds as I tried to simply find my voice. "He-" I cleared my throat. "He…. He kissed me… a-a-and I liked it, b-but… but I just r-remembered s-something and… and I-I could see… _him_ there… Xemnas, it-it was like he was t-the one doing it… and I-I ran out…"

Sora looked away. "Oh Roxas, I'm sorry. But… who kissed you? Where did you go?"

"I-I went for a walk… but-but Axel ran into me with his bike, a-and I hit my head… so we went back to his house, a-and he called Zexion… he cleaned my head and stuff… s-so when he left we watched a movie…" I explained, my breathing somewhat back to normal.

"Axel kissed you?" I could tell he was trying not to smirk.

I nodded, blushing. I was both ashamed and embarrassed. I had suddenly just yelled at him when I could have stopped the whole thing in the first place… but I was embarrassed because, well, I didn't want to stop.

Sora held out his phone to me. "Do you want to call him? You can clear this up; tell him why you freaked out like you did… heck I mean if I'd been through what you have, I'd probably freak out too."

"No!" I said quickly. "I… I don't want anyone to know… about that… and… there's something else…"

"What is it?"

I looked up at my cousin, taking in a deep breath. "He… he's here. Xemnas, in Destiny Islands… he-he called me today, and… and he was watching me. Somewhere, I don't know where… but he knew Axel's name! Sora, I don't know what to do…" Somewhere along the way I had started crying again, and I hated myself for looking so weak, but it didn't stop me from gripping the front of his shirt and hiding my face in his chest.

There was silence for a moment. "Roxas, we've got to tell someone. You promised Riku that if anything happened that you would tell someone. Besides, this guy… he's got connections and stuff, right? So him knowing Axel's name… he probably looked it up somehow. But Rox, you gotta tell someone."

"I know, I know… but I don't know how… or who…" I sighed. "We can't tell Cloud. They can't know. If they do, they'll freak…"

"I won't tell anyone but Roxas, you have to." Sora said sternly, but his voice was still soft. "You can't just keep this a secret, if he's here he's going to be looking for you… you can't just sit and wait for something bad to happen! And… I know I said I don't trust Axel, but I think he might be good for you; he could protect you… You should trust him and tell him what's going on, especially after what happened between you two."

"This morning…" I said quietly. "He… saw my arm - part of it. He helped me up and my sleeve slipped…"

"You need to talk to him as soon as possible."

"I will…"

"Okay, lets get to bed. It's like almost midnight." He said, yawning. "Oh, and Roxas?"

"Yeah?" I looked up, and he grinned at me.

"Was there tongue?"

I punched him in the arm, my face going red. "…Almost."

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**So there ya have it! Hehe, I'm excited for chapter six... It will be written soon! Sadly there are only like two more minutes left of class (I thank my science teacher for giving us the class to do what we wanted or else I wouldn't be updating this now) so I've gotta go! Luckily I have lunch next, so if you review I'll be sure to buy y'all a nice slice of cake!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, ready for a speedy update? Speedy as in, I only have like 2 minutes to get my author's notes up and publish this chapter. Haha. So yeah hope you enjoy this and I apologize for any spelling/grammar errors, I JUST finished this in homeroom and really wanted to get it up now! So enjoy and this will probably be updated again after I get home!**

**EDIT:**

**Awwee I didn't get it updated in time... The bell rang :c So I'm in Swimming now and really need to do my Final Exam Essay for it xD SO yeaaahhh hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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**Chapter 6**

I didn't really mean to ignore Axel the whole weekend, it just kind of… happened. Sora pestered me about talking to him for hours, and I tried, I really did… but every time I came close to pressing 'send' I chickened out and instead just pressed 'end'. I stayed inside, mostly huddled under my bed with my phone right next to my face, blankets covering all but the very top of my spikes. Part of me was waiting for him to try to message me, the other part was waiting for me to get the guts to talk to him myself.

Somewhere along the way, Sora had caught on to the fact that I barely even ate. Maybe it was how I always managed to 'sleep' through dinner, or maybe I was just getting too thin, but he noticed… and boy did he go into Mother-Hen mode when he did.

"You cannot be serious; why wouldn't' you want to eat? Food is amazing!" He yelled, hands on his hips and tapping his foot furiously.

I sighed. "Every time I try to eat I either feel sick in the middle of chewing… or feel sick after. So I stopped. I mean, I eat lunch at school…" and I mumbled, maybe to quietly for him to hear, "but that's because Axel makes me…"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Not eating is unhealthy, I don't want you to die of starvation!"

"If I die of anything it'll be murder…" I grumbled, but I noticed the pang of sadness my cousin got when I said that. I frowned. "I'm sorry, I'll take this seriously."

"Good." He nodded. "Okay, so what happens when you try to eat?"

"The food looses it's taste… and starts to feel nasty until I have to spit it out. If I do manage to eat, usually my stomach starts hurting." I explained.

"Okay. So… you said you eat lunch at school though. What makes that different?"

_Because it's Axel?_ I thought, but mentally slapped myself in the face for thinking that. "I don't know… I guess it's because I'm usually distracted, and it's only fries…"

"Okay! So we'll start off slowly… We get out early tomorrow, so how about lunch? After school, you, me, Riku, and - if you would actually grow the balls to talk to him - Axel!" Sora declared, smiling proudly.

I couldn't help but snort. "Did you seriously just tell me to grow some balls?"

"I am extremely serious right now, Roxas. It's been like two and a half days, and you haven't even sent him a message! He's probably sulking in his room crying like a baby because he thinks he hurt you!" Sora yelled, pointing an accusing finger at me.

"I really don't think Axel's the kind of person to do that…" I said, but in all honestly I had no idea. I didn't know what he would do with this situation. For all I knew, he could have been just enjoying his weekend with Demyx or someone else. "And what does this have to do with my appetite?"

"Well you have lunch with Axel, right?"

"Yes."

"Sooo" he said, as if it were completely obvious, "if Axel goes with us to lunch, you're bound to eat something! Plus you'd be_ distracted_." He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"D-don't twist my words!" I accused.

"Don't make them twistable, then." Sora shrugged. "Come on, the day is young! Let's go the mal!"

I sighed, but didn't argue. Besides, I had been cooped up inside for too long; I needed to get out and get some fresh air… even if that meant in a giant building full of people. Well, at least I would be able to stretch my limbs a bit.

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I took a deep breath when I stood at the entrance of our school. It was Monday, and Monday meant school, and school meant seeing Axel. It didn't really make sense even in my mind why I was so nervous. I had wanted to contact him all weekend, and even went as far as typing out an entire message, but I would always chicken out just before the call or message went through.

As I walked into the school, brushing past the gaggles (as Axel had so cleverly called them once) of students, I saw his bright red hair among all the others. He was chatting with Demyx, that ever-persistent grin on his face, but something seemed off. It didn't seem to meet his eyes.

When I reached the group he fell silent, staring at me. My face turned red and I looked down at my feet. "Um, Axel… can I talk to you...?"  
He sent Demyx a look that (at least I think) warned him not to follow before nodding towards the hall. I walked close behind. As soon as we turned the corner and were underneath a flight of stairs, he stopped and turned to me.

I saw him open his mouth to speak but I made sure to beat him to it. "B-before you say anything… um… I want to apologize…" I mumbled, avoiding all eye contact. In fact, at that point I squeezed my eyes shut entirely. "b-but I just, well, um you see… there's this guy! A-and he… I met him a few years ago… I thought he was nice but he wasn't. He tricked me. A-a-and he… he did things to me… and so those bruises you saw… t-those were from him. Well… uh most of them… I got in a car accident not too long ago and my parents they… t-they died. He-they caught me sneaking out to see that guy, and… w-we got in an accident. And there-there were times when I-I would… hurt… myself because of what was going on… s-s-s-so when you-when you kissed me Friday I just-I had this memory in my head and-and you… it felt like it was him… so that's why I freaked out and ran away I'm so sorry I-I didn't mean to get upset with you! Please-please don't be angry I-I didn't push you away because I don't l-like you…" I looked up, tears filling my eyes so much I couldn't see anything clearly and I was choking on the lump in my throat. I lost count of the amount of times my voice had cracked while I spoke.

Axel was silent, just staring in awe and shock and other emotions I couldn't quite make out. And then suddenly his arms were wrapped around me, hugging me closely. I hesitated before hugging back lightly, the tears seeming to be never-ending as I sobbed harder than I ever had, in front of someone or not. "I-I'm sorry…" I choked out, not really sure whether I was still apologizing for the events of Friday or for breaking down and soaking his shirt with my tears.

"Don't…" he mumbled, his breath warm against my neck as he hugged me tighter. "Don't apologize…"

We stayed like that for a good couple minutes until I finally managed to calm down, but I was reluctant to leave his arms. I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes. No doubt they were red and puffy. "S-sorry for… crying so much…"

Axel shook his head. "It's no problem at all."

"Um…" I let out a shaky, embarrassed laugh. "Are you… are you free after school? Sora, he… he wanted to go to lunch and said I could bring you…"

At this he smiled. "Sure, I'd love to, Roxy. Now let's get back, I'm sure Demyx is probably wondering where we went… wouldn't want him getting any ideas, would we?" He winked, grinning at me.

I blushed and looked away, but my chin was gently raised by Axel's thumb and forefinger. His touch was almost so gentle that I could barely feel it. I stared up at him, and he smiled, turning my head ever so slightly and pecking my cheek. The look on my face and redness of my cheeks was probably a sight to see, because Axel laughed and ruffled my hair. "Come on, let's get going." I nodded, and as soon as he turned to walk I touched my cheek he had kissed and smiled.

As Axel had predicted, Demyx started freaking out the second he saw us, shouting things like 'Why is his face so red? And his eyes too!', 'What the heck were you guys doing for so long?', 'Did you make him cry?' We didn't say anything, simply shook our heads with a sigh.

The bell rang for class and we grabbed our bags to walk to class, Axel sticking right by my side the entire time we walked. There were a few instances where our hands would brush against each other, sending tiny jolts of shivers up my back every time. When we arrived at my designated homeroom, we stopped outside the door. "Okay, so it's a half day and we get out at one for like a teacher meetings or something. Lunch after with Sora and…?"

"Riku and me." I said, nodding. "I… don't really know where we're going."

He grinned, nodding. "Well, sounds good to me. Wherever we go will be fine. Now, get to class! I'll see you later."

Yeah, bye." I waved, watching him walk away for a second before hurrying into my classroom right as the bell had rung.

In science that day we sat next to each other despite the seating chart having positioned us a good two tables apart; me at the very front and him at the back. Each table had two chairs instead of the usual classroom of single desks, allowing us to work together as partners as well. About two classes later and we were headed to the cafeteria for our open mod, only three more classes left in the day.

We didn't eat, instead just spent the time talking to Demyx and allowing our stomachs to stay empty for our little after-school meal. As the day progressed I was getting more and more nervous. I didn't know what Sora was going to think of Axel, what with the reputation he had gotten and how much Sora was against me knowing him. I hoped Sora… and Riku would like him, or at least get along with him well enough to not be angry at each other's presence.

As the final bell rang, I headed to the front of the school where I found Axel waiting, leaning against one of the pillars in the entrance. When he saw me, he smiled. "You ready?"

I nodded, giving him a small smile. "Um, Sora and Riku usually park out in that one circle lot thingy… in between the football and baseball field?" I said, making small gestures with my hands.

"Right, okay we can get there this way." He nodded, leading me past the auditorium and down a flight of stairs. Eventually we made it outside, right to the path that we needed to get to Riku's car. The two of us continued down the sidewalk until we reached his car, where Sora was propped up on the front and Riku was leaning against the side.

"Roxas! There you are-" Sora stopped when he noticed Axel beside me. "Whoa! You know I didn't actually think you'd make up with him that fast…" he laughed, scratching the side of his head nervously.

I rolled my eyes. "Is there stil lunch today, or…?"

"We can still go to lunch! Right Riku? The four of us?" he pleaded, his eyes going extremely wide. Riku sighed but nodded, pulling open the door and climbing into the drivers seat. Axel and I sat in the back while Sora sat up front.

There was a short awkward silence before he spoke up. "So Axel, Roxas says you're a really nice guy."

My face started to turn red, glancing up at Axel to notice he was grinning at me, an eyebrow raised with curiosity. Of course that comment had basically said that I talked about Axel with Sora. "Oh really?"

"Yup! But you know, you've got a reputation here so… before I can trust you around Roxas I need to see for myself." He warned, and from what I could see through the rearview mirror, Sora had a very serious look on his face.

Axel kept his cool, though. In fact, he looked really smug. "Oh no worries. I can assure you that those rumors probably are not true. Roxy's in safe hands with me!"

"So you may say!" Sora accused, grinning. Or at least, it sounded like he was grinning. "But as an older-"

"By like a day." Riku added.

"-Brotherly figure-"

"Cousin."

"Riku shut up!" Sora whined. "As I was saying, older brotherly _figure_," he glared at Riku, "it is my right to make sure that Roxas makes good friends that I can trust to keep him safe."

"Perfectly understandable." Axel nodded. Sora took the time to scrutinize Axel, staring at him through the mirror with a very critical look. I sighed. This was going to be a really interesting lunch.

We arrived at the diner within a couple of minutes. Choosing a booth by a window and sitting down, Axel and I next to each other again. Sora sat directly across from him, probably judging every tiny move he made. Once the waiter came by and we made our orders, the conversation began.

I sat and watched, looking back and forth between the two as they took turns answering and asking questions. Axel had a grin on his face the whole time, and by the end when the waitress arrived with our food and Sora was distracted, his eyes fell on me and he winked. I looked away quickly, blushing.

The rest of our lunch consisted of normal small talk, Riku and I staying silent for the most part unless spoken to. Of course, Riku would always interject if Sora had said something that was incorrect, but I had the feeling it was mostly just to annoy him. I couldn't help but feel nervous as we ate. Now that I knew _he _was here, I couldn't sit still. There was the chance that he could be in the very same building as us, or just outside, I hated the feeling of being watched… especially by _him_. I spent half of my time glancing out the window or just around the diner, any flash of silver that I saw making my insides jumble up and I had to look again to prove myself wrong. I had to force myself to swallow my food, but for Sora's sake I had to eat at least half of it.

For the most part, though, we had a good time. I had the feeling that Axel had been accepted, at least, it would appear so as Sora hadn't chased him out of the building quite yet. It was late afternoon when we finally finished and left, nearing three thirty once we had all piled into Riku's car once more. I stared out the window, watching cars passing by while Sora chatted Riku's ear off and Axel was doing… well I didn't know what he was doing.

When the car stopped at a red light, about to turn, I looked over into the car next to me to see the person sitting in the back seat grin at me. My eyes widened, and without thinking I grabbed Sora's shoulders from behind him and almost screamed, "Drive! H-hurry drive!"

"What! What's wrong?" Riku asked, everyone staring in shock as I glanced back and forth between the road ahead and sleep black car next to us.

"Just go!" I cried, pressing my face into the back of Sora's seat.

The light turned and Riku sped off towards Axel's house. I looked behind us, praying to all things holy that he hadn't turned. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulders and noticed I was shaking. "Roxas, calm down. What's wrong?" Axel asked, his voice stern but the worry was evident in his eyes.

I shook my head slightly, trying to get my vocals to work as our eyes locked. I took a few breaths before trying again. "I-I… he…. He was there! I saw him… he was in the c-car next to us…"

"What!" Sora yelled, spinning around in his seat. "Did he follow us? Did you see?"

I looked out the windows once more before shaking my head. "N-no I don't think so…" with a shaky sigh I slumped back into my seat, Axel's hand resting on my shoulder for a few more seconds before he pulled away. I closed my eyes. He… He really was here after all…

We arrived at Axel's house shortly after, the car mostly silent except for the occasional explanation of where to turn next and so on. I kept my eyes on the handle of my door, too scared to look out the window in fear that he could be in the car next to us once again. When Sora pulled into the driveway of Axel's house, he watched Axel climb out of the car and then turned to look at me, motioning to follow him. I blushed, but hurried out of the car to catch up.

We stopped on his porch. When he didn't say anything, I took it as my cue to speak. "U-um, thanks for… coming to lunch with us. I know it was kinda stupid, but Sora he's…"  
"Nah, it wasn't stupid, I had fun." Axel said and then grinned. "Think I passed?"

I smiled. "I think so. He hasn't tried to kill you yet, so…"

"Oh well that's good. So, about the whole… ex-friend business…" he sighed, scratching the back of his head, the smile gone from both of our faces. "If that guy's here, he's gonna try to talk to you, right? If anything happens let me know; I don't want you getting hurt."

"Thank you… U-um I'm sorry again, about freaking out… and not talking to you sooner…" I mumbled, my voice slowly getting weaker as I looked down at the ground, subconsciously itching at my wrist.

"Hey, it's fine! You don't have to apologize, really." He smiled, and then tapped on the wrist I was scratching. "And hey, no more of… that, okay? It doesn't help anything, trust me."

I raised an eyebrow at the last part, curious about what he meant. A small part of me wondered if he was speaking from experience. I nodded. "Okay."

"Promise? You gotta promise me." He said, holding up his pinky.

I smiled and curled my pinky around his. "Promise."

With that Axel ruffled my hair before fishing his keys out of his pocket and opening the front door. "Alright, good. I'll see ya tomorrow, Roxy. Take care of yourself!"

"I will!" I waved, waiting for him to close the door before I ran back to the car, climbing in a lot more comfortable than I had been on the way there. Something about knowing that Axel would be there for me gave me a little bit of hope.

However, my content reminiscing was quickly interrupted when Sora smirked evilly at me. "Well _someone_ looks happy."

"S-shut up." I stuttered, avoiding his gaze.

"You're face is so red! I can't believe it, is my baby cousin in love already?"

"A-Am not! Leave me alone!" I yelled weakly, crossing my arms and slumping in my seat. Riku only shook his head and grinned, focusing on driving us home. Sora laughed, no doubt enjoying my embarrassment to the fullest. In all honestly I didn't know how I felt towards Axel. I wasn't sure if what I was feeling were just the affects of finally having a decent friendship, or if I really did… _like_ him. The thought both unnerved me and made me smile at the same time.

"Ooh Roxas, we always go to the Pumpkin Patch at the beginning of October, you should totally invite Axel." Sora grinned. Despite my stubborn refusal, he continued explaing how the tradition happened.

Thankfully, after Riku dropped us off at the house Sora didn't bother me about it anymore and allowed me to retreat up into… _our _room, wasting away the rest of the afternoon either reading or on my computer.

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Tuesday had started just like any other normal day. I woke up first, took my shower and got ready, halfway through which Sora woke up and began his morning routine. We (read that Sora) had breakfast and then at seven Riku arrived and we rode to school with him. Not before a breakfast bar was shoved down my throat, thanks to my cousin ranting about how I needed to eat three meals a day instead of… a half of one.

We got to school around seven fifteen, where we went our separate ways at the entrance. Axel greeted me that morning with a big grin on his face and an arm around my shoulders. "Morning, Roxy, and how are you today?"

"Um, good?" I said, wiggling out of his grasp.

"Good, good." He nodded, placing his hands on his hips. "It's almost Halloween, are you going trick or treating?"

Then I remembered what Sora had told me. "Oh! Um, so… Sora said that for Halloween they always go up to the Pumpkin Patch, and… Um I was wondering if you wanted to go to. They get passes that allow like tow guests, so you'd get in for free… and then after there's a bonfire at the house- well not_ at_ the house, it's on the beach…" Why was this so embarrassing to ask? I couldn't stop fidgeting with my hands, looking away until the very end where I stared up at him.

"Hmm that's in a few weeks right?" he asked, and when I nodded he grinned and ruffled my hair. "Of course, then! In return though, you've gotta go trick or treating with me and Demyx."

"O-okay." I nodded, smiling brightly.

Axel's grin seemed to get wider when he saw how excited I was. "Alright so it's settled. Do you know what day the Pumpkin Patch thingy is?"

"Um, no I don't. Sora said they still have to figure out how many tickets to get and stuff, but it'll be in October." I said.

He gave me a thumbs up. "Okey dokey, just let me know when the date is set and I'll be there!"

"So I see you guys made up?" Demyx asked, standing beside me. I jumped slightly at his sudden appearance. "I don't really know what you did, Rox, but Axel sure was sulking all weekend, and even Monday morning!"

I blushed slightly, wondering if it was true. I looked up at Axel questioningly.

He just sighed, nodding. "I kinda thought you hated me… I bugged Dem all weekend; it was kind of sad, now that I think about it… but ya know, you had me worried! No messages, nothing."

"Um… actually, I did mean to call you… Sora wouldn't leave me alone about it, I just never could press send…" I explained, embarrassed about making him worry for so long.

"Jeez Roxas, what did you do?" Demyx asked, laughing a bit. It made me wonder if Axel had ever acted like that with anyone else… What was I talking about? Of course he would act like that with anyone. Axel seemed like the kind of person to worry over his any of his friends… right?

"U-um, nothing." I said, blushing.

He shifted his eyes between us suspiciously, making my blush even darker. "Whatever you say… Well, I'm starving, so I'm gonna go get some food."

"You can buy food before school?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah! They have breakfast food in the cafeteria, or you can get some at the little shop right next to it… we call it The Slut." He grinned.

"The… what? Why?" I asked.

"Well it's originally The Hut, I'm not really sure how it because Slut… it just did." Demyx said, thinking about it for a second. "But yeah so I'm gonna go get some food from there. Don't… do anything illegal while I'm gone!"

Axel waved him off, shaking his head. "So, I see you got home alright?"  
I nodded. "Yup."

"Well that's good. Umm so the pumpkin patch thing, do you have an estimate of how many people are going?"

I thought for a moment and began counting on my fingers. "Well… Uncle Cid and Leon, Sora, Riku, me, you… probably some other family and friends… I don't know. Maybe fifteen or so?"

"Alright." He nodded slowly. Demyx came back after a few minutes and not long after that the bell rang. I grabbed my backpack and began to walk to my homeroom. Demyx, his homeroom being downstairs, said goodbye and – asking for permission first – gave me a hug and Axel a high five. The two of us continued to walk up the stairs. As soon as we reached my homeroom, Axel hugged me.

I could feel my face turning red. "Wh-what-"

"You let Demyx hug you!" He whined, placing a hand on his heart as if he were hurt, but grinned. "Be sure to text me or something! We can hang after school, and don't forget about games club."

"I won't." I promised, waving goodbye.

"See ya at lunch, Roxy." He said, placing a quick kiss on my cheek and disappearing down the hall before I had a chance to react. I stood there for a second, my face practically exploding with color. He… kissed me again… I kept a hand on my cheek as I walked into my homeroom, sitting down silently and pulling out my iPod. The spot on my cheek he kissed felt tingly for most of my morning classes, and I realized… I could really get used to that feeling.

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**Again, hope you enjoyed! There's gonna be a bit of a time-skip coming up so we can get to their little pumpkin patch detour sooner! Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**... Awe, well last chapter was quite disappointing. Only one review! Come on guys, what's up? Am I loosing my non-existant mojo? Am I dragging things out? I promise chapter eights gonna be super crazy, and I'm on a total roll with this story right now... a few review would be nice, no? I want to hear what you guys have to say! **

**So, as the only review for chapter 6, I'm giving themusicalmuffin a special shout out. Thank you! **

**Well anyway, prepare for a fun little visit to the pumpkin patch, because an island totally has one of those, right? Logic has been screwed here, I apologize. But then again, I've never been to an island, so I don't know what it's like. Let's just say Destiny Islands is special ;) I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and please, please, pleeeaassseee leave a review!**

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**Chapter 7**

The weeks of September had passed by quickly, and thankfully without any interruptions from _him_. It was almost like he had disappeared, given up maybe, but I knew that couldn't be true. In all honesty the longer I went without hearing at least a phone call or text message, the more anxious I got. It wasn't like him to simply give up… something had to be going on.

Axel and I hung out almost every weekend, and sometimes after school on other days. We'd usually end up going to the park, every now and then out to a store if he ever needed to get anything. I was starting to like this town; everything was within walking distance and if it wasn't it barely took much time by car. Or, in Axel's case, bike.

So what were we doing that cold and windy day to celebrate the first weekend of October? Got some steaming coffee and walked around the town. I had my hands stuffed in my pockets, but was wearing a very light, brown coat while Axel was almost completely decked out in winter wear.

"I hate the cold…" Axel sighed, snuggling his nose into his scarf. "Why is autumn so cold? It totally ruins the awesomeness of Halloween. Who wants to go around trick or treating when they have to cover up their amazing costume with a coat? I mean besides, we're living on a freaking island, why is it cold! This doesn't make sense!"

I smiled and shrugged, keeping my opinions to myself. It really wasn't that cold out, the wind just made it seem like it was, and plus the sun was out. But then again, I had always loved winter, so the cold weather was more preferred than the heat of summer. Plus, it made wearing long sleeves all the time a lot less noticeable. Thankfully though, most of my bruises were gone or fading, and I hadn't allowed myself to do any harm to my body. I had made Axel a promise and I intended to keep it as best I could. Sadly, scars didn't' seem to enjoy going away that easily.

"What's your favorite season, Roxy?" Axel asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Um… well I like fall and winter best." I admitted sheepishly, after listening to his rant about how much he hated the cold I wasn't really sure how he would react.

"Really? Hmm. Sorry but I can't stand winter. The best part about it is Christmas." He grimaced.

"I'm not a big fan of warm weather. Back in Twilight Town, winters got really cold, so this isn't bad at all for me."

"Interesting." We stopped walking for a while and looked around. "Wanna head back? I'm too cold…"

I nodded, shivering. "Where to?"

"My house or your house?"

I thought for a moment. "Um… which one is closer?"

"Probably yours." He said.

"Alright, then we'll go there." I declared, and with that we had started to walk back the way we came, cutting through the park to get there faster. Although I liked the cold we had been out for a long time, and I was starting to loose the feeling in my face and toes, and that was not something I enjoyed.

I had realized that every time we would hang out, if we ever went to someone's house it would usually be mine. I didn't mind, really, but I kind of had the feeling that he didn't want to take me there after… well after what happened back a few weeks ago. Arriving back at the house we headed inside to find only Uncle Cid there, watching some sports game that was on TV. We make our presence known and he grunted a hello before we ran up to my and Sora's room.

"So, what shall we do today, Roxy?" Axel asked, plopping himself down on my bed.

"I don't know, um… there's not much to do here." I sighed, sitting down next to him as he laid down, hands behind his back and one leg propped up while the other was hanging off the side.

"Hm… then I guess we could just talk?" he offered, and when I nodded there was a short silence. "So, Rox, you've kept your promise, right?" when I raised an eyebrow in question he sighed and sat up, waving a finger at my arm.

"Oh!" I said with realization. "Yeah, yeah I have… I haven't done that for a while, and… I'm eating better and stuff…"

"Eating better? You weren't eating well?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Oh, I didn't tell you that, right…" I mumbled, pulling my legs up to my chin. "Um, yeah I used to hardly be able to eat anything… Well I wouldn't eat because every time I did, if it didn't make me want to throw up right there it made my stomach hurt later… that's kind of why I passed out when we first met. I hadn't eaten for a week or so and gym made me pass out. Also, that's… another reason why Sora had you come with us to lunch that one time. He found out I wasn't eating most of the time and… well we talked about it and I told him that I was better at eating at school, when I was around y-… friends and stuff so he said you should come with us and it would be easier for me to eat…" I took a deep breath. Yeah, that had been a lot to say.

Axel was quiet for a while, and I glanced over at him nervously to see that he was staring off into space for a moment, thinking. "You're eating now, right?"

"Yeah, mostly…" I nodded, looking away. "Small meals and stuff… every now and then I'll feel sick from it but it's not every time anymore. Other times I'll fall asleep when I get home and miss dinner."

"Do you sleep okay?"

I hesitated, not sure if I should tell him or not. Thinking for a minute I slowly shook my head once. "I… can't sleep. Well I can it's just hard. When I do… when I try to fall asleep I just get all these memories… I've gone days without sleep but I usually get about three hours now, but… I have nightmares."

Axel sighed, and I remembered something. "Um, Axel? When you made me promise not to hurt myself… and that it didn't help, were you… have you ever done it?"

At that he smiled sadly. "Yeah… I stopped at the beginning of last year. It's kind of similar to you and me, actually. Demyx caught on and he was pissed; he raided my room and took every sharp object he could find. He didn't tell anyone, but he always scolded me for it. He told me once that if I didn't stop he'd do it too. Of course, I didn't really believe him. Eventually when I didn't stop, he started coming to school with random cuts and he would just star at me with a disappointed look. I yelled at him for doing something stupid and we got in a fight. I think then I realized that I had to stop, if I didn't he was going to get hurt, and so I forced myself to throw out anything I had or could use. We made up after about two weeks."

"I'm… sorry." I said quietly, not really sure what to say.

"Nah, don't be. It's in the past, no need to dwell on it now." He grinned, patting my head. "I'm just glad your getting better."

I smiled, and then found myself staring into those eyes again. They were just so… _green_. Like poison, or neon… they literally seemed to glow. I didn't want to blink, if I did I'd loose that eye contact and I'd look away. I didn't want that… I wanted to stare at his eyes forever. Axel's hand eventually fell from my head, landing on my leg. On instinct I found myself leaning closer, so slowly I didn't know I had even moved until our noses were almost touching. He closed the distance hesitantly, making sure it was okay.

I could feel the butterflies in my stomach as my eyes closed, reluctantly letting go of that gaze on his green, green eyes. It was slow, it was soft, and it was… well I couldn't really describe it. There were no fireworks like I had always heard about, no sparks or anything, but it definitely wasn't disappointing… and man did it end much too soon.

Because as soon as he had started to move, he pulled away. "Sorry…" he whispered, keeping his face close.

I blushed, realizing we had just kissed… for the second time. Not to mention the countless times he had kissed me on the cheek or forehead, usually when we had to part ways. I smiled a bit. "I-it's okay…"

"No running off in fear without explanation this time, right?" he grinned.

I laughed, embarrassed. "Nope."

"Then… can I kiss you again?" I looked up at him, and with that blush getting even redder I nodded, the distance between our lips closed once again. It was faster this time; a lot more eager and daring but still sweet. I tried to keep up with the way he moved his lips, having never really kissed before.

And then, of course, the moment was ended. Remind me to kill Sora later. "I'M HOOOMMEE!" my stupid moment-ruiner of a cousin burst in the door, throwing his backpack onto the bed as Axel and I pulled away quickly. Sora stopped, stared, and grinned. "Why hello there, Axel. Are you going to our little Pumpkin Patch gathering?"

He nodded, the two of us practically frozen stiff. "Good! Because well we already bought your ticket so that would be a waste." Here I was expecting some huge freak out about how we weren't allowed any baby making in his room. Oh god I did not just think that… "What are you all uptight about? Jeez, you'd think I walked in on you guys having sex or something… wait you guys weren't doing that were you? Ew Roxas!"

Now Axel was laughing, but he managed to say, "I can assure you all intentions were innocent."

"Well at least I can trust _someone_ around here." Sora said, pretending to glare at me. "Teenagers these days, seriously."

"Tell me about it." Axel played along, sneaking glances over at me. I couldn't help but blush.

"Roxas, do we need to have… _the talk?"_ Sora asked darkly, an evil smirk on his face. Luckily after a few rounds of laughter the joking was over, and Sora was getting ready to leave. "Well, I'm only here for a little bit, Kairi and I are going on a _date_." Sora said, dumping the contents of his backpack onto his bed.

"Oh Riku will be so heartbroken!" I gasped overdramatically. Yeah, that's right. It was my turn to tease him.

"Shut up you! Riku and I are not dating, have never dated, and will never date!" he yelled, just as the door opened to reveal a very surprised and slightly hurt looking silverette (a name we gave him for his strangely silver hair).

Riku robotically placed the notebook on his desk. "Um, you left your notebook in the cafeteria, I came to give it to you… I'll be going now." And with that he practically ran out the door.

"What's up with him...?" Sora asked, and it was obvious he was worried.

I shook my head at how clueless he was. Getting up off of my bed I pushed him toward the door. "Go after him!" I ordered, and although he was confused, he nodded and hurried out the door.

"So what's up with them?" Axel asked, having remained silent for the whole situation.

I sighed and sat back down. "Well… Riku liked Sora even back when I lived here… of course Sora is extremely clueless and… well he never noticed. I thought maybe Riku would get over it by now, but he hasn't… So Sora's dating Kairi now, I guess. Honestly I never see them together, he's always with Riku… but obviously he was hurt when he heard Sora say that he would never date him." I took a deep breath.

"When you used to live here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded. "Yeah, I was born here and I lived with my parents. We all lived close to each other and grew up together, but my family moved… After the accident I came back here.."

"Well that's… cool? That you used to all live close together, not… all the other stuff." Axel said, glancing at the clock. "I better get home, Reno's cooking dinner tonight."

"Reno?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My brother? Did I ever tell you about him? We look basically exactly alike except his tattoos are different and he's got a ponytail mullet type thing. He usually can't cook for shit, but if he's making spaghetti… I swear it's the best thing in the whole world." He grinned, kicking his feet over the edge of the bed and standing up. We walked down the stairs to the front door, where he pushed my bangs out of the way and kissed my forehead. "See ya tomorrow, Roxy."

"Are you gonna meet us there or ride with us?" I asked.

"If it's alright I'll ride with you guys. My car has crappy gas mileage and the pumpkin patch is way out there." He said. Axel was right; the only place that took more than fifteen minutes to get to was the pumpkin patch, which was at least an hour away.

"Okay, I'll just tell Uncle Leon." I said, waving as he walked away. Hurrying back up to my room I did all of my homework and spent the rest of the night on my computer, waiting for Saturday. I was excited for the pumpkin patch, but I also remembered that Sora wasn't back yet. I hoped they can work everything out…

..::_**_ღ_**∆**๒๒**ץкℓиՀ**_ღ_**_::..

"Roxas! Sora! Are you guys ready?" Leon called from downstairs.

"Almost!" Sora yelled, hurrying to pull on a pair of pants and a clean shirt. He hadn't come home until after midnight, his hair messy and out of breath. I asked him if everything went alright but he just hummed and fell asleep. I pulled my hoodie on, stuffing some gloves in my pockets. I wondered to myself if it would be too cold out for Axel. Making my way to the car I saw Riku leaning against it and went to stand next to him.

"So, are you guys okay?" I asked quietly.

He glanced at me and sighed, but grinned. "I suppose so, seeing as I'm here. And how are you and Axel?"

I blushed slightly, looking down at my feet. "U-um, we're good… I guess?"

"You guess?"  
"I guess." I nodded.

"Speaking of your lover, here he comes now." Riku smirked, pointing down the street to see that red ball of hair with a body attached to it running down the sidewalk. Really the hair was the only think I could make out, the rest of him was just a blur of colors.

My face flushed at the 'lover' part. "W-we aren't lovers!" I protested, because we weren't, right? Right? Did I even _want_ to be?

Axel was closer now, and by the time he arrived in the driveway he was out of breath from running. "Hey Roxy!" he grinned, waving slightly.

"You walked all the way here?" I asked, glancing to my side when Sora appeared, neither of the two spoke a word to each other. I did notice a strange look, though. I'd have to ask Sora about it later…

"Well I didn't want to bring my bike and stuff, so yeah. It's not that far, but I woke up late so I had to run." He explained, standing up straight as he caught his breath. "And it looks like I'm just in time." When he saw Riku and Sora standing next to each other he gave me a look and leaned down to my ear. "Did those two make up?"

"I don't know." I whispered back. "Sora got home at like one last night and he didn't tell me anything, just fell asleep."

Axel hummed, and then moved in between Sora and Riku, slinging his arm around the two. "Man, it is so nice that you all go to the pumpkin patch together every year, ya know? Get to be with family, and _friends_…"

Sora turned red, but Riku remained just as poker-faced as ever. I covered my mouth with a hand, trying to hide my laughter. Axel, looking glad with his results so far, continued. "So, Sora, is Kairi coming too? Or… is she being replaced?"

"R-Roxas!" Sora called suddenly. "Control your boyfriend!"

This time Axel looked caught off guard. He stood up straight, his face going absolutely blank while I blushed and glared at my cousin. "W-well if you just told us what happened he wouldn't be doing this!"

"Jeez, then why didn't you just ask?" he said, acting as if it were obvious.

"I did, but you fell asleep!" I reminded him.

"Oh… really?" Sora laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Um, oops… well uh, we kind of… we worked things out."

"Did you tell Kairi?" I asked.

"Um… not yet. I'm gonna do that tonight… or maybe tomorrow." He sighed, but Riku hit the back of his head lightly. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You promised tonight, Sora." He said sternly. "She's going to flip out either way, might as well get it over with."

"If I may, I agree with Riku." Axel chimed in. "The longer you go not telling her, the harder it's going to be and it'll only be ten times worse."

Sora sighed but nodded in defeat. "I know, I know…"

At that Leon and Cid came out and loaded up the last of our supplies for the bonfire into the car. Axel and I climbed into the back, Sora and Riku in the middle, and my Uncles in the front with Leon driving. I pulled out my headphones almost instantly, only putting one in my ear so I could hear if anyone wanted to tell me something. Pressing shuffle on my 'favorites' playlist, I watched out the window. Somewhere along the way Axel lightly pulled the headphone out of my ear. I was about to protest when he placed it in his and handed me the other one. "So what does Roxy listen to?" he grinned, holding his hand out for my iPod. I shook my head and smiled, handing it over. We listened together until we arrived, every now and then striking up conversation but it never lasted for long.

We got to the pumpkin patch a little after four, everyone piling out of the car and getting in line to get inside. Once our wristbands were on and Leon gave us each twenty dollars, he let us go where we wanted, saying that we'd meet up at seven and head out to the beach for our bonfire. I wasn't really looking forward to spending the night on a beach, being hugged and asked a million questions by family and family friends, followed by all of the adults getting drunk – knowing Leon he'd probably have Sora or Riku drive us home.

"Where to first?" Axel asked, looking around at all the scenery.

I stayed quiet, just taking in everything. It had been forever since I had come here, yet hardly anything had changed. It was like looking into the past. "Um, I don't know… lets just walk around and find something."  
He nodded, and we began walking in a random direction, flashlight in hand for when it got dark. Luckily today it seemed that the weather was nice, at least sixty, and Axel was thankful for that. I stuffed my gloves into my pockets, hoping I wouldn't need them today. We started with a few haunted houses. None of them were that scary, seeing as it was a family friends place, but I did jump every now and then and Axel would just laugh. After the haunted houses we rode on this little tractor, which was really entertaining when Axel was so tall and the two of us had to squish into a cart, and then as we road around the track he began to sing.

Next we found the go-carts. Riding together at first, we raced three more times before moving onto the bouncing area afterward. That… was both very fun and very scary. I was never a fan of heights, nor was I good with balancing, and every time I would jump, land and then be bounced higher I would let out a very unmanly squeal as my stomach dropped slightly. I fell over more times than I could count, once hitting Axel in the stomach with my head and then the two of us rolling off into the sand. We stopped after that and spent at least five minutes shaking all the sand out of our clothes (after of course Axel asked over and over if my head was okay even though I have the feeling I did more damage to him).

Around six the sky started to turn dark and we took a break to buy some food, sitting at a picnic table. All of the running around had made us tired, but we still wanted to have room for the bonfire. We settled for funnel cakes and soda.

"Having fun?" Axel asked, ripping off a piece of funnel cake.

I nodded, unable to speak with my mouth full of cake. After swallowing it down with some of my soda I spoke. "It's… nice, you know? Nothing here has really changed. It's still how I remember it." I glanced away, checking my phone for messages and the time. "We've got two hours, what should we do?"

"Well, you want to get a pumpkin? The line for that is pretty long, and we want to be able to see at least a little bit, so we should probably go now. Plus it's a free hayrack ride." Axel grinned, and after we finished our funnel cakes we headed out.

Somewhere on the way to our destination I noticed a stand that sold glow sticks, and Axel, laughing at my excitement, ended up buying at least one of each kind for the both of us. I was – literally – glowing after that.

Axel was right; the line was really long. We waited patiently for at least thirty minutes, talking about the most random of topics, and I even learned a new game to play.

"Okay, so the goal is to get the other person to have all their fingers up." Axel explained, holding up his fists and sticking his pointer fingers out. I did the same, not really sure where this was going. "You tap the other person's finger with yours, and they have to put up however many fingers you have up on your hand. If you get all five fingers, you loose that hand; get all ten and you loose the game. Got it?"

"Um… kinda." I said hesitantly.

"You go first." I did as he said, tapping his finger and he put another up, then tapped my hand with the two of them. Now I had three. I hit his and he had four. "Oh, and you can do this." he clapped his fists together lightly and instead of having four on one side he now had two on one side and three on the other. I stared in slight awe before he tapped my hand, getting that one out. I pouted and the hand with three. After four rounds I had lost every single one, and was thoroughly frustrated.

I bit the inside of my cheek angrily. "Axel, this is hard."

He just laughed and ruffled my hair. "You just have to get better at it." By then the tractor came around, and we gradually moved up in the line, climbing onto the very back. I sat in the corner on the back edge, and Axel next to me. He fidgeted on the stacks of hay we had to sit on. "You would think they'd give us something more comfortable to sit on." He grumbled.

I rolled my eyes and decided not to answer, instead watched the scenery as the ride bumped and jerked on the way down the dirt path into the cornfields. It was slowly getting darker out, and I was glad I remembered to bring a flashlight. By the time we got out to the pumpkins we were going to need it. Not that the glow sticks wouldn't help us see, but still.

"It's kinda creepy out here, ya know?" Axel said, his arms wrapped around the wooden planks holding us in. "Like in those horror movies with the cornfields, and it's like possessed or something."

I nodded, shivering. I wouldn't deny that the fields were creepy at night. My body immediately tensed when I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. _'oh god not right now…'_ Axel watched with a raised eyebrow as all the color drained from my face and I robotically pulled my phone out of my pocket. I felt a wave of relief when I saw that it was only Leon calling and quickly went to answer.

"Roxas, calling to check up. We're leaving in an hour, will you be back by then?" he asked, not bothering to wait for me to even say hello.

"Yeah, we're just getting our pumpkins now… the ride's about to stop. We'll meet up with you after that." I nodded slightly, listening to what he had to say and then hanging up. "Sorry, it was Leon…"

"You look like you just saw a ghost." He commented.

I scratched behind my ear nervously. "Yeah, that… I… thought it was someone else…"

There was a silent acknowledgement when he nodded, telling me he knew what I meant. We came to a stop where the cornfields cleared and instead there were pumpkins everywhere. Everyone began filing off aside from the few who decided to stay on. The next fifteen minutes Axel and I spent our time finding the perfect two pumpkins; one for each of us. Mine ended up being a bit smaller, keeping in mind that I definitely wasn't as strong and any others were much too heavy for me. Besides, I thought it was a very pretty pumpkin. The color was nice and there weren't any weird things growing on it or anything. We held them in our laps on the way back, and started our trek back to the front of the patch after the hayrack ride ended.

Sora was the first to notice us, jumping up and down and waving his arms frantically the second he did. I looked over at leon, puzzled. "Weren't more people coming?"

"They did." He said. "But they're going to stay a bit longer, the patch doesn't close until ten and they're staying for another hour. Plus it gives us more time to set up. You'll see everyone when we get there."

Great. I sighed to myself as we filed out of the pumpkin patch, paying for our pumpkins and any other souvenirs we picked up in the gift shop. Axel had gotten Demyx a small gourd that looked like a really tiny white pumpkin and we all got some other treats. Now all I had to do was survive the bonfire… this should be interesting.

* * *

**Okay, there you go! Woo! That's like two kisses now! Things are getting too hot to handle, am I right? I'm totally kidding, but be prepared... for the next chapter shall be very crazy! I can't believe I actually got all this done, actually. I originally planned to have the bonfire in this chapter as well, but it was already getting pretty (according to my standards anyway) long. I flew through this chapter and probably would have had it done if I didn't have finals right now o3o Which brings me to slightly sad news... I have a laptop that the school supplies us with. Tomorrow is my very last day of being a freshman, and this means that two finals left, and... *cue dramatic music* the turning in of my laptop! So I'll be sharing one with my mom and brother until I find some way to get my own. Because of this I won't be able to update as often and will probably barely be able to write! But hang in with me, it will get done!**

**... Now go review. I'll give you my Riku figurine. Just kidding, but it'll help me tons if you do. I need your feedback! That's why it's called _feed_back! Because my ideas _feed_ off of it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**WELL LOOK AT THIS. IT'S ANOTHER CHAPTER. Say whaaatt? So after much confusion over the new layout of (which I am unhappy with as I cannot find my way around my own account anymore *le creys*) and the weird Document Manager not allowing me to upload anything, I now have a new chapter! Although all of that is competely irrelevant to the creation of this chapter... Haha. It may have been uploaded sooner if I hadn't been caught up in coloring in some of my artwork... heh. Plus I've got summer school AND have to share a- you know, you've already heard this.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

**THIS ISN'T OFFICIAL BUT I'M ABOUT 85% SURE THAT THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL EITHER BE IN NORMAL OR AXEL'S POINT OF VIEW. SO JUST IN CASE. BUT THERE WILL BE A WARNING AT THE BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 9.**

**Now enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

The bonfire-sort-of-family-reunion-type-thing went exactly how I imagined it to. Uncles, aunts, cousins, family friends, and some of Sora's friends had showed up. All in all it was at least twenty people. Out of those twenty, about thirteen of them were completely drunk by the time it was ten thirty, laughing loudly and doing… whatever it was drunk family members did at these get-togethers. I was about ready to kill someone if I was asked one more time about how I was holding up or if I was told how 'great of people' my parents were and how 'sorry they were that they died.'

Seriously, that kind of stuff was meant for the funeral. Which, by the way, happened before I left for Destiny Islands. That… wasn't really something I enjoyed remembering. Then again, who would want to remember the sight of their parents lying in coffins? It made things too real. I knew they had died but seeing them just laying there… it kind of all dawned on me then that I would never hear their voices, never wake up to mom cooking eggs or dad sipping his straight black coffee, reading the news paper… ever again.

"Whatcha thinking about, Roxy?" Axel asked, snapping me out of my daze. We were currently sitting in the sand facing the ocean, all of the logs around the fire taken up.

"Just… stuff." I said quietly, staring out at the water and swallowing the lump in my throat. The sun had long set and all that was left was a big, full moon reflecting off of the ocean and a soft, cool breeze. I was thankful that the island had nice weather, even if it did randomly get cold at times. The unpredictable-ness of it made it sort of comforting.

"Hm…" he didn't seem satisfied with my answer, but left it alone anyway.

"Hey Axel… you've never told me about your family. Well, other than your brother." I said, drawing small designs in the sand. I felt slightly intrusive to be asking him about them, but I was still curious.

"Well," he started, smiling out at the water. "There's really only my brother, me, and my sister."

"You have a sister?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You didn't know? That's Kairi."

I stared blankly for a second. The two didn't really seem to match up as siblings to me. Sure they both had red hair, but hers wasn't hardly as bright as Axel's, and the eyes and face… it didn't really make sense. "I don't see it."

Axel just laughed. "Yeah, most people don't. So you tell Sora that while he's complaining about how difficult it is to break up with her, that I'm the one that's going to have to sit at home with her for hours as she whines to me about it." He grinned.

I smiled back. "I'll be sure to tell him."

"You better. Well, anyway, my parents weren't that great of people. Mom got mixed up in drugs and Dad… well he was just never really there, always working. So once Reno got his own place, Kairi and I went with him. No idea where they are now." He sighed, but didn't sound very upset about it. More… angry, but it was very faint.

"Oh, well I'm sorry."

"Whatcha got to be sorry about? It's not your fault." He grinned.

I nodded. "So, what's your brother like?"

"He's crazy. He works for some company called Shinra, and they do investigations and stuff. He's kind of violent, but it's in that… loving brother kind of way. I don't know how to explain it, but I guess it's just his way of showing affection. I'll tell him to lay off on the touchy-feely stuff if you ever meet him." Axel said, nudging my arm playfully.

"I've only ever been to your house once." I commented, the idea reminding me of that fact.

He shrugged. "Your house is always closer. We can go there if you want, like on the weekend or something. Reno's usually working but every now and then he'll be home. You can meet him if he's there… but be prepared."

I nodded. "Alright."

We were interrupted suddenly by a shriek, and after I jumped we turned around to see what it was. Farther down the beach, I could make out the figures of Sora and Kairi, and it looked like they were arguing. "Looks like he told her." Axel whistled. We watched from our spots in the sand, not really able to hear anything unless Kairi was yelling… which happened to be a lot. From what I could gather she was freaking out over the fact that he was gay, and it was Riku. After a good couple of minutes and a loud slap Kairi came storming past us, Sora taking his time to walk with his head hung low and a hand on his cheek.

"She slapped me." He said quietly, sitting down next to us.

"Do you need ice for that or something?" Axel asked, a little hesitant.

Sora just shook his head. "I'll get some when we go home… do you know where Riku is?"

I pointed towards the group of people sitting in a circle around the bonfire. "Should be sitting around the fire. I think he was talking to your one friend…um… Ti… Tyler…?"

"Tidus." Sora said, smiling slightly as he stood up.

I blushed, embarrassed that I messed up his name. "Oh, yeah… sorry, not good with names."

"It's okay, and thanks!" he waved, hurrying over to them.

"I'm surprised you're not mad at him for breaking up with your sister." I said once he had left.

"Well, Kairi's pretty strong, despite how much she whines about everything. She can handle it. Besides, Sora's a good kid, and I kind of know what he's going through." Axel shrugged.

"You do?" I asked, looking over at him curiously.

"Of course. I may be bi but I guess I like guys more. I've lost count of how many times I was slapped for coming out to a girl." He grinned.

"Ah..." I nodded, not really sure how to respond to that.

"Who knows, maybe they'll stay friends." He shrugged.

I stared at him. "I thought that never worked out though? I mean… there would be some weird tension… Wouldn't it be kind of awkward?"

"Of course not. Sure she'll be pissy for a couple of days, but eventually she'll realize 'hey, it just wasn't meant to be'. Usually it's easier if the two have a mutual agreement though."

"Speaking from experience?" I asked.

Axel laughed and nodded. "Demyx? I basically turned him gay. But, we both kind of decided a few weeks into it that we would rather just be friends, and here we are. Plus he's got a crush on someone else now."

"Really? Who is it?" why was I so curious?

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." He winked, holding a finger up to shush me. I frowned and looked back out at the ocean.

We left for home a little after midnight, this time the seating was different; Riku was driving with Sora in the seat next to him and Cid and Leon sat in the middle, Axel and I still in the back. It didn't take hardly as long to get home than it did to get all the way out there, which I was thankful of. I was exhausted and wanted to get home and fall asleep.

It occurred to me, when we pulled into the driveway, that Axel had never been taken home. I told Riku when we got out of the car but he just shook his head. "Either he walks home or he can stay the night, I'm done driving and Sora's about to pass out."

"I can walk." Axel said, appearing next to me.

I shook my head. "But it's all dark out, something could happen."

"I'm sure I'll be fine." He reassured me, but I bit the side of my cheek nervously. I didn't like the idea of anyone out walking alone at night.

"I think he wants you to stay, Axel." Sora grinned evilly over at me, and I glared slightly.

"Well I can if you want." He offered, pulling out his phone. "All I have to do is let Reno know."

"Okay, do that. Dad won't care if you stay, Riku practically lives here." Sora said cheerfully before the two headed up to his room.

I turned to Axel, who was silently texting on his phone as he walked inside. I followed him, but once we got to our room I froze. We didn't have any extra area for him to sleep, so that meant… he'd have to sleep in my bed. I glanced over at Sora and Riku, who were both curled up under his covers. But… that was different. They were a couple; it was okay for them to do that…

Axel seemed unfazed by the idea, as he was pulling off his jacket, followed by his shoes and then… jeans. I looked away, trying to control the blush on my face and went to find my pajamas. I climbed in first, pressing my back up against the wall to make room for Axel. I was thankful to have a full-sized bed now instead of just a twin. I pulled the blankets up over my nose to try and hide my face. It was too red; I couldn't let him see how embarrassed I was.

Of course, he noticed anyway. Grinning, he wiggled farther under the covers so he was at eye level. "Tired?"

I nodded.

"Relax, it's just a sleepover. Besides, they're doing it." He said, motioning over toward Sora and Riku.

"B-but they're… they're dating." I mumbled.

"So? They've slept in the same bed before then right?"

I glanced away, silently telling him that he was right. I knew it was stupid for me to get all worked up over this, but I couldn't help it. My brooding was interrupted when he kissed my forehead. "Now get some sleep, it's late and you look exhausted."

I nodded in agreement, closing my eyes and eventually I drifted into a much welcomed rest.

_I opened my eyes slowly, taking in my surroundings. Axel was next to me, propped up on his side and holding his weight with his arm. I smiled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. "Morning, it's about time you woke up." he smiled down at me, leaning in close to my ear. I blushed when I felt his warm breath spread over my neck and ear. Soft kisses made a trail across my cheek until they finally met my lips, where I welcomed the kiss gratefully._

_ I let him guide me; mimicking the movements of his mouth on pulled away for air eventually, and what I thought was the ending of a nice kiss started again with much more passion... and maybe a bit more lustful than sweet. I couldn't help myself and let out a soft moan when his fingers ghosted over my neck and tangled into my hair. The feeling was just so... good._

_ I was caught slightly off guard when his tongue slid in, distracting me enough to not notice that he had climbed over me until he pulled away for air again. My eyes opened when his free hand started to slide under my shirt. "A-Axel, stop." I gasped, my heart beating faster by the second._

_ "I don't want to." he breathed quietly, so quietly I almost couldn't hear, and a dreadful feeling of panic came over me when he snatched my hands (of which I was going to push him away with) and held them over my head. Both of my wrists were small enough to fit in one grasp, and he used the other to slide all the way into my shirt._

_ "Ax-mmph." I was silenced by his mouth roughly pressing against me, tongue invading my mouth. I was about to bite down on it when the grip on my wrists tightened enough to bruise them, making me wince. It was obvious that if I tried anything, I'd be in big trouble._

_ 't-this isn't like him...' I thought to myself, trying my best to struggle free but Axel was too strong. 'He... he wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't do this. Axel please stop!'_

_ To my horror, the figure in front of me began to morph from those bright red spikes and piercing green eyes to silver and gold. I tried to scream but was only able to let out a strangled groan that made my lungs burn for air even more._

_ "Stop stop, please stop..." I sobbed, the tears falling as he pulled away, smirking down at me as those fingers moved down down **down.**_

_ His lips stopped right next to my ear once again. I shrunk as far back into the comforter as I could, squeezing my eyes shut. "I've finally found you, Roxas... Roxas..."_

_"Roxas."_

_ He kept repeating my name, the voice fading into something else... it sounded like Axel again, and he started to shake my shoulders gently._

"Roxas, Roxas wake up."

I gasped, my eyes shooting open but everything was blurry and dark. Eventually I was able to make out bright red hair and green eyes. "A-A-A-Axe-el..." I sobbed as quietly as I could, clutching at the fabric of his shirt and trying desperately to calm my shaking.

"Shh you're okay, it was just a dream." he whispered, prying one of my hands away to hold it in his. I nodded once, focusing more on getting my breathing back to normal... and that stupid shaking. I had to get the thought of that... _dream._.. out of my head.

Letting go of my hand, Axel wrapped both arms around me and I did the same, digging my nails into his back and burying my face in his chest. "A-Axel?"

I could feel his breath over my ear and shivered. "Yes?"

"You... you wouldn't h-hurt me, right?" I asked, hugging tighter. For some reason, I was scared of the answer.

"You can trust me when I say I would never purposefully hurt you." he said quietly, slowly running his fingers through my hair. "And I will do everything I can to make sure that no one else does, either."

I nodded slowly, taking in his answer. We were both silent for a while until I was able to ask another question, my voice weak. "A-and... what if it wasn't on purpose?"

"Well we've already been through that, right? And we made it out okay. If something is bothering you and I'm because of it, you've gotta tell me and we can find a way to work around it or whatever until it's not a problem anymore." he said.

"...Promise?"

"I promise."

I didn't say anything else after that, instead I laid silently in my bed, Axel falling asleep not long after and leaving me to lay there. Eventually I fell asleep curled up next to him, letting the sound of his heartbeat and slow rise and fall of his chest lull me back into a much more peaceful rest.

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓ„yՀღ_::..**

I woke up to the sound of laughter. Very quiet, evil laughter. Opening my eyes I was greeted by two faces staring down at me, a phone held up. "Good morning sleeping beauty." Sora snickered, pressing down on a button. My eyes widened when I realized what they were doing.

They were taking pictures! "Sora!" I yelled, jumping up to reach for the phone and accidentally hitting Axel's chin with my elbow. Sadly he pulled it out of reach before I could get it and the two fled from the room.

Axel groaned next to me, rubbing his chin. "Talk about a rude wakeup call… you could have just shook me or something."

"S-sorry… Sora and Riku were uh, yeah…" I said quietly. "Is your chin okay?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Never knew you were that strong..." He chuckled, throwing the covers off and going to find his clothes. I did the same. "Are _you_ okay, though?"

I let out a sigh. "Y-yeah... sorry, about that... They've never been that bad before... usually I just wake up sweating or something and go back to sleep, but... I guess this time was different." I let out a shiver and laughed quietly. "It's weird, how real dreams can feel. Even when you know they're not, it still..."

"Mind if I ask... what happened?" he wondered, but I shook my head.

"Maybe... later." I sighed, looking away. I didn't want to tell him about my dream; that he was in it... that he turned into... No. Enough thinking about that. "We should go downstairs, get something to eat or... something."

Axel nodded, and both of us kept our mouths shut as we walked down the stairs for some food. Once we were at the bottom of the stairs I could smell eggs and bacon cooking. The smell alone made my stomach churn, but I didn't say anything and instead took a seat in between Axel and Sora, who was smirking at me evilly. Right, the pictures. I would get to him about those later, when I didn't feel like puking.

Leon served us our food, four pieces of bacon on each plate next to a pile of eggs. Cid and Leon sat across from us, and the table was eventually filled with Sora's talking about the pumpkin patch and bonfire. I sat quietly, poking my eggs. Earning worried glances from both Axel _and_ Sora, I hesitantly took a bite of my eggs, and regretted it almost immediately. The texture of the eggs as I chewed, the taste mixing with the horrible memories and suddenly, just as I was about to swallow, it was too much. After all of those memories being brought back full throttle from that dream, the idea of swallowing anything... I threw myself out of my chair and ran to the closest bathroom – past the living room and down the hall, right under the stairs across from Leon's study. Ignoring the sudden worried calls, I didn't bother to even close the door as I hung over the toilet. I groaned when I had finished emptying my stomach at the sound of rushed feet transitioning from wood to carpet. From what I could hear, it was two people.

"Roxas! Are you okay?" Sora asked, throwing the door open. Glancing towards the door I could see Axel right behind him, and he looked pretty upset.

I nodded weakly._ 'If I were a girl, I'd think I was pregnant'_. "I'm... fine..."

Sora frowned, but didn't say anything. I closed my eyes and rested my head on my arm that was on the toilet seat. There was an exchanging of words before I heard two different footsteps – one getting farther away and one getting closer. I opened my eyes to see Axel crouched next to me and immediately turned to burry my face in my arm.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice almost stern.

I nodded weakly, refusing to look at him.

He brushed my bangs out of the way and placed a hand on the exposed part of my forehead. I flinched at the touch, but he pulled away after a second. "Well you're not sick, so was it that dream?"

I nodded again.

"Want to tell me what it was about?" this time I shook my head, and Axel sighed. "You were thrashing around a lot."

"...that... happens." I mumbled. "Did... did I say anything?"  
"Only when I tried to wake you up." he said.

I swallowed nervously, gagging slightly at the taste. Eggs tasted a lot better going in than they did going out. "What did I say?"

"Mostly random gibberish... stop and other things." I was hoping that was it, until he spoke again. "You... said my name, before I woke up."

I opened my eyes and finally turned to look at him. "Did I." It wasn't really a question; I didn't doubt that I had said it, as he was a big part of the dream, but I didn't want _him _to know that.

"You did." he nodded.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said quietly, pushing myself up off of the ground. Axel stood as well, helping me when I stumbled once. He went home after getting me upstairs, only saying goodbye. No kiss on the forehead, not even a pat on the head. Just a 'see you later' and he was gone. I laid in bed for the rest of the day, ignoring Sora when he would come to check on me.

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

The next morning when I arrived at school Axel smiled and waved, just like he would on any other day. I smiled back weakly, remembering the night before. Even without him near me, I had another dream just like the one before. Everything was fine until he started getting too rough, moving too fast, and then as soon as I started to panic he would just... transform. But this time he got farther. Sora woke me up this time, shaking my shoulders and practically yelling at me. I scared him half to death. After all, none of my other nightmares had ever been bad enough to made me scream or thrash around in the middle of the night.

I stayed quiet for most of the day. I had only gotten about two hours of sleep the night before, and really had no energy to keep up with the constantly changing conversation. Axel, of course, seemed to notice something was off, but he didn't say anything.

In my English class, Mr. Gekko wouldn't take his eyes off of me. I stared back every now and then, the knots rising in my stomach a bit more with each glance. It seemed like every time I was in class, he was staring at me. In the middle of a boring lecture about an upcoming essay we were going to have to write, his phone rang, and he excused himself into the hall. I saw him glance at me through the glass, a smirk spreading across his usually straight face. I swallowed. _'You're just being paranoid' _I told myself, but it was getting to be hard to believe.

As soon as the bell rang I ran out of the classroom as quickly as possible, making my way to the cafeteria and again staying quiet for the majority of the time. The day seemed to drag on longer than usual, a mixture of the normal monday blues and lack of sleep was a horrible combo. When the last bell finally rang I sighed, relieved to be able to finally get out of school. I took my time getting out of the building, noticing that when I got out there Sora and Riku were nowhere to be seen.

Confused, I sat down on the stone ledge at the front and looked around. Maybe they had to go home quickly and Leon would be picking me up, or maybe they just forgot completely?I wait_ed another ten minutes before texting Sora to ask where he was._

_ 'What? I thought you had anime club today.'_

Anime club. I had forgotten all about that._ 'Oh, right. Mind picking me up if you can?'_

_'Sure, Riku and I just finished getting ice cream so we'll come get you. Be there in like fifteen minutes :)'_ he replied. I sighed, covering my face from the sun. The front of the school was empty by now, all of the kids who normally waited outside already home or close to it.

"Hello, _Roxas_." I froze, my eyes widening as I slowly looked up to see golden eyes staring down at me. It wasn't hard to miss the pure evil in them. "Fancy seeing _you_ here."

I couldn't think of anything to say. There was nothing I could say. No matter what I did, it didn't matter because he was here, and he had every kind of power over me and he knew that.

"Why don't we go for a stroll, hm? We can... _catch up_ on things we've _missed_." I didn't stand, but instead waited for him to roughly grab my wrist and pull me to my feet. Where I began moving robotically to keep from being dragged.

"Roxas!" I jerked my head up and could make out a tuft of brown hair as Sora jumped out of his car that was a couple good yards away. Our eyes made contact, and although he looked scared I could only imagine how absolutely terrified I looked to him. The look only lasted half a second before I was shoved into the back seat of the same black car we had seen so long ago, Xemnas climbing in after me.

I expected to simply be driven somewhere far off, but as soon as the car started to move I felt a cloth cover my mouth. Kicking and squirming, my screams were muffled by the white cloth and soon everything faded into darkness.

* * *

**Soooo... reviews? Please? That would be nice. I would like to thank everyone who did review my last chapter! It really does mean a lot to me :3 Things are going to get REALLY interesting now so please stay tuned and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up in a few weeks! NOW GO REVIEW. I BEG OF YOU.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh god, this is so overdue. I'm so sorry it took so long to get this out! Gah! But I was just stuck and couldn't figure out what to do, and then I got all side-tracked by my other story, and I've been working on my old story, and then there's school... So many excuses but I'm sorry. Ahhh, this chapter... I don't really like very much, but it's the best I can do. Why do I always insist on giving my characters such difficult lives when it makes things hard for me to write? Auugghh.**

**Well hopefully you'll find this enjoyable, and chapter 10 (hurray for double-digits!) will be out in a few weeks, hopefully less!**

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: THIS CHAPTER SWITCHES BETWEEN NORMAL POV AND ROXAS' POV. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT THEY ARE SEPARATED BY THE SIGNATURE! THANK YOU AND ENJOY :D**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Axel sat, wondering just where Roxas was when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Seeing a number he hadn't recognized, he thought for a moment before answering it. "Yello?" "Axel! I-I need your help- Roxas, he, this guy showed up in a car and he took him! They drove off too fast, I-I don't know where they went-" Sora's words were falling all over themselves in a panicked rush.

"Whoa, okay Sora, calm down." Axel said, although he was thoroughly freaked out. Out of the things he had understood, none of them had been good. "Are you at the school?"

"Y-yeah." Sora sniffed, and Axel made out the sound of Riku trying to calm him down.

"Okay I'm coming right now, just stay where you are." he said, shutting his phone and grabbing his backpack before running out of the room without bothering to tell anyone where he was going despite their confused calls. He ran as fast as he could, sprinting down the hall and finally out the double doors where he saw Sora and Riku standing next to their car at the end of the parking lot.

Sora called out to him as soon as he was close enough for them to see. Leaning over to catch his breath, the redhead didn't waste time. "Did you see what the man looked like?"

"Yeah he-he had this long, weird grayish hair and he was wearing all black." Sora said, Riku's hands on either shoulder.

"Did you see a license plate? What did the car look like?" Axel asked, trying to get as much information as he could.

"Um... down the street away from us... I-I don't know, it was a black car, I didn't look at the plate, I'm sorry..." the brunette mumbled, his eyes widening with fear. "It's okay, don't worry. We'll find him." And he meant it, too. He didn't know how or if it was even possible, but he was going to find him.

"Lets get you home, we can't do anything right now." Riku said, leading Sora into their car. He passed Axel the keys, giving him a look that was clear he needed to stay in the back to keep Sora from getting too freaked out.

His hear racing, the eldest of the three climbed into the drivers seat and started the car. The ride was mostly in silence aside from Sora's mumbling and the occasional sniff. That is, until he suddenly spoke out.

"Riku, wh-what was that guys name Roxas talked about, f-from Twilight Town?" he asked.

"Xemnas, right?" Riku said.

Axel slammed on the breaks, nearly causing a car accident. "_What!_" he yelled, spinning around in his seat and ignoring the angry honks from drivers around him. "Riku, did you say Xemnas?"  
The silver haired teen nodded, his eyebrow raising.

"Fucking...- Change of plans, we're going to my house." Axel said, pulling out his phone and dialing his friend's number.

"Yo yo yo! Axel where'd you run off to?" Demyx asked cheerfully.

"Demyx, get Zexion and Larxene over to my house _now_. I'll explain when you get there." he said, and then shut his phone again.

"Axel, what's going on?" Sora asked quietly.

"Let's just say things got a _lot _more fucking complicated." He said, teeth clenched.

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

I groaned, lifting my head but regretting the movement. I didn't know how long I had been out, but it sure made my neck hurt. I tried moving but realized that maybe I wouldn't be able to do that.

My wrists were bound behind my back with rope, ankles tied to the legs of a chair, and I was sitting in in a very, very dark room. I took a few deep breathes, trying to stay calm but it wasn't working very well. A couple seconds later I was panicking, tugging at my wrists and doing everything I could to get free even though I knew it was impossible. The rope scratched against my skin, making it burn and while hanging my head in defeat I let out a strangled scream. "Oh Roxas, screaming wont get you anywhere. No one can here you."

I looked up slowly, gasping for air. "X... Xemnas."

"It's been a while." the man grinned. "Did you miss me?"

"Tch."

"I see you've grown a bit of a backbone since I last saw you." He sneered, yanking me by my hair and painfully jerking my head so I was forced to look at him. "We'll just have to break that, wont we?"

"Y-you've got me here, now what do you want?" I growled, trying to stay strong, but that was kind of hard when all of my fears and nightmares were coming true.

"Oh it's not you I'm after anymore. You see, it's Axel. You're simply the... how should I put this? Bait."

Axel? What did he want with Axel? The confusion must have showed on my face because Xemnas decided to explain. "He's been questioning his rightful place. I need you to help him... see straight, so to speak."

"W-what...?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" this was all so confusing. I was tired, I was scared, and I was in pain. I could barely pay attention to anything he was saying at all, let alone understand it.

Xemnas shook his head with an amused grin. "You really don't know. And I thought he trusted you. He's been keeping secrets from you, Roxas."

"What are you talking about?"

"Axel works for _me_."

My eyes widened and I shook my head quickly. No, that wasn't true. Axel would never... he promised he would never try to hurt me. That he'd protect me. It couldn't be true, there was just no way...

"Oh it's true, Roxas. That little school _gang _he's a part of? Organization XIII?" I stared up at him, my eyes widening further.

"B-but that would mean... Everyone..."

"Demyx? Larxene? Marluxia? All of them? Yes. Teachers, too." he grinned. "And who do you think runs it all?"

I looked down at my shoes, my eyes blurring. This was too much. I couldn't believe this. Everyone I had made friends with, they were never really my friends to begin with, were they? I was just a prize for their leader that they needed to pretend to be nice to in order to bring me here.

"That's right, and I wouldn't have been able to find you if he hadn't talked about you almost every meeting. You were quite the hot topic there for a while. But recently Axel has been doubting his place in our little organization, and in turn others are doing the same. I will not have my own members turning against me. Consider yourself honored; without you I would never be able to change their minds."

My head hung limply on my shoulders. I couldn't think. I couldn't even cry, I was so shocked. I should have known this was going to happen. I could never trust anyone, and it was stupid of me to think differently. I would always be something that was used.

"It's going to take a few hours for them to find us. I'm betting... two or three." Xemnas said matter-of-factly before his face twisted into an evil smirk as he lifted my chin once again. "In the mean time, why don't we have a little fun, hmm, Roxas?"

Though my heartbeat quickened slightly I didn't do anything to stop him. Aside from having no way to escape, I now lacked the motivation. If I even did get out of here, what would I be going back to? Some shit life living in a house with people I barely knew as family? I wouldn't be able to even look at Axel. Hell I probably wouldn't even go to school anymore. I didn't even know what kind of relationship we had... he would kiss me, and he said he wanted to protect me, but that was it. We weren't _together_ in that sense but we definitely weren't friends, but apparently we weren't even that. Why was I even worrying about something like that? Obviously everything had been a lie. And here I thought there was actually someone who didn't intend to use me just like Xemnas did.

A hand collided with my face, the sound echoing through the empty room. "You look at me when I'm talking to you." He hissed.

Slowly, almost painfully, I lifted my gaze. I felt the cool metal of a blade under my chin, the tip just barely grazing my neck, and as he pushed the blade upward I lifted my chin with it. "That's better." Xemnas grinned. "You know, I was almost starting to miss you, Roxas. You've always had this... spark."

"I'm flattered." I mumbled, glaring at him the best I could.

"Do I see tears in your eyes? You always were a bit of a crybaby, weren't you."

I turned away, forgetting there was a knife under my chin, and ended up getting a pretty deep cut. I screamed, but it only intensified the pain. Keeping my mouth shut, I let the tears fall down, now from both pain and heartache.

"You shouldn't have moved." he sighed, shaking his head. The false sympathy lasted for only a moment before he sneered, leaning in close. "Now, why don't we have a little fun while we wait for our guests?"

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

Axel sighed, running a hand through his hair as they sat in the living room of his house and waited for the rest of his friends to show up. This was bad; this was very,_ very_ bad. It might have been different if it were someone else who had taken him, but messing with Xemnas? That was suicide for_ all _of them.

Demyx ran in through the front door, practically breaking it as Larxene, Marluxia, and Zexion. "Axel! What's wrong? What happened?"

"Xemnas has Roxas." He said quickly, standing up. Sora and Riku glanced between the group, still not quite sure what was going on.

"What?" Larxene growled. "What does he want with Roxas?"

Axel sighed. "I think… okay, he told me about this guy from his past." He glanced over at Sora, as if asking for permission to tell them. The brunette nodded hesitantly. "Back when he lived in Twilight Town. I'm pretty sure its Xemnas, and they've got a pretty big history."

"Not to mention with you always talking about him during the meetings." She said, crossing her arms. "He probably knows we were planning to leave, and went for someone who wasn't just important to us, but he had unfinished business with as well."

"Knocking out two birds with one stone." Marluxia said glumly.

"I-I'm sorry but I still don't understand what you guys are talking about." Sora said, raising a hand. "Meetings? How are you guys connected to Xemnas?"

"Sora… You know about our gang, right?" Demyx asked slowly, waiting for him to nod once before continuing. "Well… Xemnas was the one who started it. Well, I mean we had been our little gang forever, but he kind of… finalized it, I guess. Added more people and made us more of a real gang."

"You guys… you work for Xemnas?" Sora yelled, his eyes widening as he realized what they were saying. "How could you! Roxas trusted you, you fucking-"

"Sora, calm down." Riku said sternly, placing a hand on his shoulder when Sora had stood up.

"How the hell am I supposed to calm down?" he growled. "Don't tell me to calm down when my cousin is god-knows-where, and it's all thanks to these fucking idiots for being in some god-forsaken gang! I knew they were bad news from the very beginning!"

"Shut your trap, kid." Larxene glared at him. "We didn't get him in this mess on purpose, hell we didn't even know he knew Xemnas until just now."

"What about you?" Sora said, turning to Axel. "He told you_ everything_, he trusted you like you were his own brother – he trusted you more than _me!"_

"He never told me a name." Axel said quietly, his voice low. "And let me just say that if I had known I would have done something a hell of a lot sooner than now."

"Even if we hadn't told Xemnas about Roxas," Zexion chimed in. "There's no saying this wouldn't have happened anyway. We have members who are teachers, and we have members outside of school as well. If you're saying Xemnas had a past with Roxas and was already looking for him, then he would have found him without us anyway. It's only that he knows he's important to us that he's using him as bait."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Riku asked, his hand still on Sora's shoulder.

"You," Axel said sternly, "are going to go home. You're going to stay inside and you are going to wait for us to call-"

"You can't expect me to sit by and wait while Roxas is probably being tormented somewhere!" Sora yelled.

"That's all you can do!" Axel yelled back. "It's our fault Roxas is in this mess in the first place, and we are not getting you involved! So you are going to shut up and you are going to listen while we go in there and get him!"

The brunette clenched his teeth and glared, but didn't say anything. Riku nodded in understanding and ushered Sora out the door. He stopped briefly as they passed Axel. "We're counting on you, but don't get hurt."

"A couple bruises never hurt anyone." Axel nodded, waiting for them to leave.

"What's the plan?" Demyx asked.

"No time to think of one." Marluxia shook his head. "He's probably at the main base, so I say we just go in, find him, and beat the crap out of Xemnas on the way."

"He'll want to bargain." Zexion said.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Axel said, grabbing his keys. "Lets go."

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

Two hours passed painfully slowly; and that wasn't a metaphor. The hours I spent cramped in that dark room, my wrists and ankles starting to bleed from rubbing against the ropes, were excruciating. The minutes passed by like hours, and with no windows I couldn't tell what time if it was day or night anymore. Not like it mattered.

A loud slam was heard somewhere far off, followed by yells and feet banging against the floor. There were multiple people. I only lifted my eyes as my hung head down when I heard someone yell.

"XEMNAAASS!" The voice bellowed throughout the building, loud and clear.

It was Axel.

At this Xemnas grinned. "It's about time they showed up. Now be a good little boy and wait here while I greet our guests."

Once again I was left in the darkness, the rush of footsteps stopping after a few minutes, and though I couldn't make out what they were saying I could tell there was a lot of yelling. I lifted my head, staring up at the ceiling. Footsteps started again, and more yelling. It was only one person, and by the sound of it, they were not_ happy_. Not seconds later I could hear them calling out my name, doors slamming every not and then. Again it was Axel.

My thoughts were being split in half, and with everything that was happening it was giving me a headache. No, it was full-blown migraine. Part of me wanted to hate Axel – I wanted to hate all of them – for leading him to me. If I hadn't known them I probably would be sitting in here right now. But then… why was he here? Why was he even looking for me?

The door slammed open. "Roxas!" Axel yelled, his eyes widening. I squinted as the light from the hallway the room. How big was this freaking place? He ran over, the door swinging lightly on its hinges from the force he had thrown it open with. Hurrying to untie the ropes around my wrists and feet, I couldn't help but notice the very frustrated and worried look on his face.

He couldn't have known this was going to happen, he just couldn't have. He may have looked scary but he would never hurt someone on purpose, especially not one of his friends. I stared at the ground, hating myself for thinking that he would.

"Shit, Roxas…" Axel breathed, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was him, if I knew I wouldn't have said anything, god, it was stupid of me to anyway." He was freaking out. It was obvious by how he kept on babbling on and on about how sorry or stupid he was, how worried they all had been when they found out, and how they spent hours trying to find me.

And all I could do was stare. How was I supposed to answer when I had thought so horribly of all of them? There I was going on about them being horrible friends yet they had been running around for hours looking for me. Who was the horrible friend now?

Once all of the ropes were off Axel helped me up, holding onto my arm as I stumbled out of the room. "Demyx and Larxene are having a talk with Xemnas… Riku's at home with Sora trying to calm him down, but we should probably get you to a hospital or something."

I shook my head, mumbling. "Just… get me out of here."

He nodded, understanding my condition and hurried to get me out of the building and to his car. I leaned my head against the window as he drove, the music playing quietly. We arrived at Axel's house about twenty minutes later, and once inside I was set on the couch while Axel left to go get the first aid kit. We didn't talk as he bandaged up my wrists and ankles and patched up any other injury I had. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, letting out a deep breath. I didn't want to see all the damage that he'd done; I just wanted to sleep. But that would have to wait.

"I'm sorry. For everything." Axel mumbled.

I covered my eyes with my arm, a sad grin on my face. "If anyone should be apologizing, I think it's me."

"If I hadn't talked about you, he might not have known you were here."

"Please, this is Xemnas we're talking about." I sighed. "He knows everything."

Axel chuckled at that. "That does seem true… but I don't want you to think the same that Sora had. I want you to know that we had no idea it was him; we would have protected you more if we knew it had been."

"Axel, don't." I shook my head. "I might have… thought that at first, but I think you proved yourself enough when you got me out of there. And I'm sorry for doubting you. There was no way that you could have known who I was talking about. I never even told you a name or anything." My hand fell back to my side and I leaned forward, staring at the coffee table. "I'm sorry for thinking so badly about all of you."

A hand was on my head, and when I looked up Axel was grinning, but his eyes were still sad. "Don't worry too much."

"I could say the same to you."

"So, do you want to go see Sora? He's probably still freaking out." He asked, putting the all of the medical supplies back in the box.

I groaned. "Urgh… I'd rather just sleep. Think he can hold off till the morning?"

"Probably not." He admitted. "I'm not gonna make you leave if you _really _don't want to go home, but I'd at least call him if I were you and let him know you're okay."

Groaning, I pulled out my phone and dialed his number before heading into a separate room. I realized then that it had been the first time I was ever inside Axel's house. It was nice, definitely not someplace you'd expect him to live, but it was still nice.

Sora freaked out when I called. He yelled and cried and screamed and insisted on coming to get me about ten times, but I refused. I didn't want to go home, I didn't want to see anyone, and I explained that to him. Despite his persistent worrying, he seemed to understand that he wasn't the person I needed right now. I thanked him for that, though I never said it out loud. We talked for about twenty minutes, most of it being Sora going on about how worried he had been and how angry everyone was when they found out what happened. The last thing he told me made me grin. "Axel's a good guy. I didn't think so at first but he proved himself worthy. I could just tell how much he cared when you got taken… So I approve! And Roxas? Tell him I don't hate him, okay?"

"Will do." I nodded to myself.

"Okay, get some sleep! You need lots of rest."

"Okay, bye Sora."

"Buh-bye."

I hung up, stuffed my phone in my pocket, and headed back into the living room where Axel was waiting. "Everything's good."

"I probably should have asked this before I put all those bandages on, but do you want to take a shower or something? You look pretty bad…" he asked, standing up.

"I'll take one in the morning." I groaned. "I just want sleep…"

Axel chuckled, ruffling my hair again as he passed. "Alright, alright. Patience young grasshopper; make it up the stairs before you pass out, okay?"

I rolled my eyes, following him up the stairs. We turned to the right and went through the first door, where his room was located. It was, like the rest of the house, very simple and nice. Some clothes were on the floor along with his backpack but that was about all the mess there was. His bed was king sized, and had a black comforter. The walls were a navy blue. Axel searched through his drawers for a bit before tossing a shirt and a pair of sweatpants at me. "Wear these, they'll be big but it's better than your sweaty school clothes."

I didn't protest, and simply turned to face the wall as I changed. I was too tired to be embarrassed about changing in front of him. He had changed as well, also facing away from me. I climbed into bed first, taking the side with the wall and waited for Axel to turn off the lights as I snuggled almost all the way under, my eyes and up the only things visible.

He climbed in next to me after flicking the light switch. "Goodnight, Roxas."

"Night Axel…" I yawned, and – feeling brave, cold, and possibly a bit insane – wiggled my arms around him and moved closer before closing my eyes. I felt his chest move as he laughed, but he didn't say anything and simply shifted to get more comfortable.

"You know he's not going to give up that easily." Axel mumbled quietly after a minute or so of silence. "No matter what they say or do, they won't be able to knock any sense into him. And not to mention he's still got at least half of the organization on his side, if not more."

I nodded, sighing. "We'll just… have to be careful…"

"It wont happen again, I promise."

_Don't make promises you can't keep…_ I bit my tongue back and nodded mutely. It was true that Xemnas wouldn't give up when he still had so many people on his side, and he'd continue to try and use me to get to those who were going against him. But for now, at least, we were safe.

And that was all that mattered.

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**Ookkaayy now that that's done we'll hopefully be getting more into their *dun dun dun!* relationship! *le gasp/squeal* However the drama is not over! :O For Xemnas is still at large, and they've got to keep a close eye on Roxy to make sure he doesn't get hurt... afasdf okay I'll stop with the cheesy suspense-maker thing. Please review xD**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well hello there~ look what we have! Chapter 10! Hurray for double digits! I think it's time we celebrate because now every single one of the three stories I currently have published on here are in their double digit number of chapters! Woo~ ****Well, prepare yourselves, my dear readers. These poor characters are going to be going through a lot in this and the next chapter. That's all I'm going to say.**

**Thanks to all of you amazing reviewers! You guys all deserve multiple cookies, and I promise that if I ever do own a bakery (as this has been my new life goal for a few months now) I will be sure to send you all a little thank you baggie! **

**Enjoy chapter 10 folks!**

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**Chapter 10**

I woke up panicked and sweaty. My mind couldn't grasp what had happened in my dream the night before, but the idea was still there. Axel had been there, and so had Xemnas – never a good combination for a dream _or_ real life. Glancing to the side, I noticed the empty spot in the bed and let out a shaky sigh before bracing myself for the morning.

Apparently, Axel was in the kitchen. But it wasn't just one Axel but _two_.

Wait – what?

"Uh…" I rubbed my eyes and stared. Not two Axels, just Axel and someone who looked like a nearly-perfect replica of Axel, only his hair was pulled into a long ponytail in the back and he was slightly taller.

"Morning Rox! Reno's home for a bit so he made breakfast." Axel said, turning to greet me. "You like chocolate chip pancakes, right?"

I nodded, staring at Reno. It was scary how similar they looked – they even both had tattoos on their faces! Though Reno's were red, and more on his cheekbones than directly under his eyes.

Reno grinned, spatula in hand as he flipped the pancakes over, little bits of melted chocolate remaining on it. "So, this is Roxas. I heard you got yourself into a little mess with the boss-man. Ya know I told Axel to quit that stupid orgy a long time ago? But no one listens to Reno, noo~"

"You're so full of crap." Axel rolled his eyes. "You're the one who encouraged me to join, saying it was perfectly natural for 'someone like me' to be in a gang."

"I don't remember saying this."

"You said it when I was a freshman."

"Pics, or it didn't happen!" Reno shouted, moving the finished pancakes onto three plates. I watched in amusement as he handed me a plate, winking. Axel hit him with a wooden spoon and Reno proceeded to yell at him for getting batter in his hair.

Axel dropped a hand on my head, ignoring his brother. "You look a little down, how are you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Sore. And in pain." He didn't need to know about the dreams. Heck, I hardly even remembered what happened, just that they hadn't been very good.

"You can have some medicine after we eat if you want." He offered, taking his own plate and guiding me into the dining room. I nodded, sitting down to eat. I hadn't had anything to eat the day before, and I definitely didn't want to get back in the habit of not eating anything.

I was surprised at how well Axel's brother could cook. He didn't seem like the type to bother learning. Then again, I learned it was best not to judge people on how they look… or seem. In short, the pancakes were amazing. I ate about five of them, and to say the least Axel looked a bit impressed.

"I don't think I've ever seen you eat so much." He grinned, obviously amused as I stuffed my face.

"I usually don't." I admitted after swallowing a bite. "But these are really good."

"Just good? I'm heartbroken." Reno feigned a dramatic sigh, hiding his face as if in shame as he leant against the doorframe. "I expect only the best out of my cooking, and yet you say they're only _good_?"

"Yeah but I said_ really_ good." I pointed out.

"That hardly means anything!"

"Reno, be happy he's eating them at all." Axel said, taking a bite of his own plate. "I'm surprised you didn't burn them like last time."

The older of the two threw a spatula, bits of batter flying off of it. Axel dodged it just in time and it hit the wall, leaving a splotch of pancake batter in it's wake. "That was once! God Axel, let it go already!"

"My goal in life it so make sure you_ never_ forget that day." Axel grinned.

Reno glared, moving slowly back into the kitchen as he spoke. "Not cool, bro. Not. Cool." And with that he was off doing something else, out of sight. By then I had finished my pancakes and patiently waited for Axel to finish his as well before we put the plates in the sink and moved back upstairs.

"You're brother is… interesting." I said, not sure how to describe him. They fit as family, though, that's for sure.

"Heh, you got that right." Axel grinned, handing me my clothes from yesterday and a towel. "Bathroom is right across the hall, go ahead and take a shower and then I've gotta take you home."

I groaned. "Ugh, Sora's going to be freaking out all day…"

"Yeah, well, you'll only worry him even more the longer you stay, so hurry up." He said, giving me a light nudge with his elbow. "I'll be in my room when you're done."

"Yeah alright." I sighed, gripping the fabrics in my hand and heading out the door to where he said the bathroom was. As I washed my hair, I tried to remember what my dream had been about. So far I only knew that Axel and Xemnas had been there, but that was it. I scrubbed harder, my frustration growing.

And suddenly, I remembered.

_ I was laying in bed, my eyes closed and the lights dimmed. I could hear the door open and close, and then feet shuffling over to the bed. The frame creaked as whoever-it-was climbed over me. I opened my eyes slowly, meeting green._

_ "Did I wake you?"_

_ I shook my head, grinning slightly._

_ Axel kissed my forehead as he had on so many other occasions, only this time trailing down my cheek with tiny kisses. Each one seemed to leave a trail of fire. One of the hands placed on either side of my head moved down with the kisses, stroking my arm and then down to my waist. I raised an eyebrow, fidgeting slightly. _

_ His breath was hot against my ear. "Shh…" _

_ This wasn't Axel._

_ Axel was kind, funny, and never tried to force things onto people. He wouldn't do something like this. I looked up, searching his eyes as if to prove that it wasn't him; to show myself that this was some stranger, but it wasn't. It was him. My heart rate sped up as I went into panic-mode, struggling and squirming but he wouldn't let me go. I was trapped. There was no sound when I tried to scream, his hands roaming places they shouldn't have._

_ 'Axel, stop! Please!'_

_ My mind was screaming, my throat burned. His nails dug into my skin, burning worse than his fire-kisses. There was a pause when my shirt was torn off. A flash of disgust formed on his face before he continued. My mind kept screaming. There were times I would catch a glimpse of Xemnas in him. His green eyes would change to a more yellow color, his hair silver at first glance, but it was only ever for a second. Tears welled in my eyes, making them burn and my vision blur to shades of red and green and skin and silver and yellow._

_ The only thing I could do was beg silently in my mind for it to stop._

My initial reaction was my breath lodging in my throat like a boulder, my eyes growing just about as big as one. I held on to my chest with one hand and the wall with another, but it was slippery and I ended up falling, hitting my head on the tile. I felt like I was going to throw up.

There was a knock on the door. "Hey, you alright in there?"

"Ah- um… y-yeah, I just slipped…" I choked out, curling into a ball as the water stung my eyes. Or maybe it was tears, I couldn't tell. I took deep breaths. In, out, in, out. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I had never remembered the dream in the first place. It wasn't true; it was just a dream… right? He had promised he wouldn't hurt me… right?

I took another breath and held onto a more dry part of the wall to help myself up. A quick conditioning and body-wash later I shut the water off and stepped out, staring for a long time in the mirror. My whole body was scarred, whether it was from the accident, Xemnas, or myself. I couldn't even tell the difference between them anymore. Who would be attracted to such a hideous body like this, anyway?

Certainly not someone as amazing as Axel.

Avoiding all views of the mirror, I turned around and changed into the clothes Axel had given me. They were washed and now smelled faintly of him. Or at least his clothes. I opened the door slowly, keeping my eyes on the ground as I tiptoed into Axel's room. I hesitated at the door. Maybe if I just ran, I wouldn't have to face him. I wouldn't have to put on that smile and lie to him, say that everything was fine when it wasn't.

I braced myself and pushed open the door, smiling weakly at him. "Thanks."

"No problem." He grinned, jumping off of his bed and ruffling my hair as he passed. I flinched. "You ready to go?"

Nodding, I grabbed my backpack that was placed neatly in the corner of the room when I remembered something. It was only Tuesday. We were missing school. After a few seconds of thought I shrugged. Whatever, I probably wouldn't have gone anyway.

"You alright there, Roxy?"

I nodded again, throwing the backpack over my shoulder and hurry to get out of the room. The sooner I got home, the better. Or worse, depending on if Sora stayed home or not, which he probably had. Axel gave me a look that said 'Idon't believe you one bit' but let it go and followed after me down the stairs. He called out to tell Reno where we were going and after hearing a "See ya!" we both made our way out to his car.

The silence was killing him, I could tell. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, glanced over at me a few times and then focused completely on driving. I stayed quiet, staring out the window. When we got to my house, Sora was waiting outside with Riku. I mumbled a thank you and goodbye to Axel before preparing myself for Sora's embrace.

"Oh my god, Roxas, never do that to us again! I was so scared! You suddenly got snatched up, and-and-" he burst into tears, hugging me tightly. I lightly patted his back. "I can't believe it! You've already been through so much, I-I just can't believe something like this would happen!"

"It's alright, Sora, I'm fine." I said, giving him a smile. Riku nodded at me, his teeth clenched. He had been worrying too. "He hardly did anything, anyway. I was mostly just cramped in a room, and then Axel got me out." I added, trying to calm him down. "I really am fine."

"O-okay." He sniffed, rubbing his nose on his sleeve.

"If it's alright, I'm gonna go take a nap." I said, adjusting the strap of my backpack.

Sora nodded, smiling brightly. "Of course! You get sleep; Riku and I will cook you something super awesome for when you wake up!"

"Ah, um, that's okay. I had a whole bunch of pancakes at Axel's, so I'm full…" I laughed nervously, hurrying up to my room when Sora whined, saying he was going to bake something anyway. I didn't even know if he could bake, but hopefully Riku would keep him from burning the house down.

I fell onto my bed with a sigh, laying with my face in my pillow until I couldn't breath and rolled over, hugging it tightly. I stared at the wall and tried to calm myself down by tracing invisible patterns with finger. My brain was on overload; thoughts and questions and worries and just _everything_ jumbled up into one big mesh pot in the center of my mind. I stayed in bed for the rest of the day, not asleep but not fully there either. I just stared at the wall, my arm now still and all focus gone.

Sora was worried.

I didn't come down for dinner. I feared if I did, I'd just end up throwing it back up. Leon and Cid came to bug me and ask what was wrong, but I just told them I wasn't feeling good. Cid tsk'ed and Leon asked if I wanted to stay home from school Wednesday but I declined the offer. However, Sora knew something was up. I could tell by how he'd come into the room and send me a pitiful look. It was unnerving to see him so down.

I didn't fall asleep until early into the morning, maybe around four. If it were up to me I wouldn't have fallen asleep at all; the only thing I could see in my mind were those dreams of Axel either morphing into Xemnas or acting exactly like him. I woke up at six to Sora calling out to me, trying to pry my fngers off of my arms as the nails dug into my skin hard enough to draw blood.

"Roxas, what is going on?" Sora asked, unwrapping bandaid after bandaid and placing them over the small crescent marks. "I thought… you were getting better." His voice got quiet as he had me press a wet washcloth on my forehead to calm me down.

"I know." I mumbled. "I did too."  
"Is it because of Tuesday? You don't have to worry, because we're all gonna protect you."

"It's… not that."

"Then what is it?"

I looked away, trying to decide what to tell him. "I just, I'm not feeling too good."

"Roxas…"

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" I was begging.

"I understand." He sighed, rolling the shirt down over my arms. So much for shortsleeves… "But please, at least talk to someone about it. I don't want you going back to when you first got here."

I nodded, handing him the washcloth and mumbling a thank you before he left to go get ready for school. Riku picked us up, a long and extremely awkward silence in the car. The radio wasn't even on, we just sat in silence and waited for the school to save us.

Axel grinned widely when I walked over to our group. "Morning Roxy."

"Morning." I said, scanning the group to see who was here. Demyx ran over, slinging his arm around my shoulders.

"Roxas! I am so so so sorry! I can't believe he would do something like that!" He cried, wrapping his other arm around so I was being squeezed in a tight hug. I pat his arm lightly before struggling to get out of the grip. "You have to let us make it up to you! It's only fair. I think we should all go get ice cream before it gets too cold out, what do you think?"

"Isn't it_ already_ too cold out?" Axel asked, raising an eyebrow. "We should just hang out at your place or something."

"Why is it always my house?" Demyx whined.

"Because your house is way cooler than anyone else's!"

"I take offence to that!" Larxene yelled from where she was sitting on the stairs that lead into the auditorium, shooting Axel a glare.

"Okay, so your house is second best, whatever." Axel said, crossing his arms. When Larxene just rolled her eyes and went back to reading Axel turned to me with an expectant grin on his face. I shrunk back slightly. "What do you think? If they want to make it up to you it should be something you actually _want_ to do."

I held up my hands in an almost defensive manner. "You guys really don't have to do that."

"Of course we do! It's kind of our fault, so we want to make it up to you." Demyx said. "And even if we didn't need to make it up, we still hardly ever see you! So we want to hang out anyway."

"I don't really…"

"Pleeeeeaaassseee?"  
I stared up at the ceiling. Maybe if I prayed hard enough something would happen to get me out of having to be with them for a whole day; I doubted I'd be able to make it through that long with everything that had been happening. At least not until I sorted it out.

"Oh yeah, don't you have to go to that thing with Sora?" Axel asked, shooting me a glance. He was helping me bail out.

"Right, that one thing. I forgot all about that, thanks." I nodded slowly. Why was he helping me? I would expect him to pester me into going as well.

Demyx gave us both a questioning look. "You've already got plans?"  
"Yeah, sorry." I sighed. "Sora planned this thing like a week ago, I can't say no to my cousin."

"Awwwe, maybe next week then." He sighed, dragging his feet as he walked off to bug Zexion, who was sitting near Larxene on his computer.

I glanced at Axel. "Thanks."

"No problem." He nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets. There was short silence before he continued talking. "What's up with you, Roxas? You've been acting really weird."

"It's… nothing." I mumbled, looking away.

Axel grabbed me by my arms and stared, his eyes filling with anger. "Did he say something to you? Did he do something?"

I shook my head quickly, a lump of fear catching in my throat as I started pulling away, but he didn't let go. Obviously he had done plenty in those two hours, said horrible and retched things, but I had been trying to forget. That was a lot easier said than done.

"Roxas, don't lie to me."

"Please let go." I whispered, doing my best to calm my shaking. That was also easier said than done. His hands slowly fell, letting me slip away freely. I didn't look back as I ran to the bathroom and waited in one of the stalls for homeroom to start.

This continued for two weeks. I didn't meet up with Axel's group before school, I didn't see them at lunch – heck I didn't even go to lunch. My open mods were spent hiding in the library, reading random books and willing myself to stay awake. The cool thing about books is that once you finish reading and finally come back to reality, it feels like you've been sleeping. Or just off in a different world. Either one was welcome. Sora tried to ask me about what was wrong every day, usually after school if he was there to do so, and if he wasn't then he'd bug me the second he got home. As the days of only an hour or less of sleep dragged on – each with it's own nightmare – I began to fall asleep during the day. I usually passed out when I came home from school, but during classes I would drift off every now and then without even knowing it.

A few times I had short minute-nightmares when I would fall asleep during school. One second I would be taking notes and the next he would stroll in through the doors, my classmates and teacher's faces all slick and wiped of any features except the dents of wear the eyes and nose would be. Xemnas had all but disappeared from my subconscious by then. A horrible, terrifying version of Axel was all that was left, with yellow-green eyes that sent acid through my veins and a touch that burned like fire.

I wanted things to go back to before that Tuesday. I wanted things to go back to when we'd spend most of the day hanging out just talking about anything. But I couldn't. I couldn't face him when those dreams haunted me to no end.

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

Friday passed slowly. I had gotten detention for falling asleep in class and sent to the nurse for throwing up about half a minute later. The only thing in my stomach was bile and water. She asked if I wasn't eating and I told her very calmly that I had forgotten to eat that morning. A few more questions and a lot of persuasion later I was allowed to go to my next class.

Gym was my last class of the day, and by the end I was panting and sweating thanks to having to run ten laps around the gym. I was on my way to find a water fountain when my stomach started cramping up. I tried to ignore the pain. It was only a minor setback from the complete loss of my appetite and therefore food. It was just a little ways down the hall; I could make it.

Or at least, I thought I could.

My vision began getting spotty and if felt all of the color drain from my face. I held onto the wall to try and make it to the fountain, but everything was spinning and the spots got bigger. My knees gave out. Everything went black.

"Roxas!"

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**Seem familiar? It should. Ha ha haa~ oh god I'm just seriously torturing Roxas in all of my stories right now, aren't I? xD Oh ho ho... I feel kinda bad about it, but at the same time, it needs to be done! We have to build up their relationship somehow, don't we? And no taking the sweet and easy way out; heartache and trauma is the only way to go! This isn't a hurt/comfort story for nothing xD**

**Well anyway, I'll stop rambling. 'Get on with the next chapter and have Roxas snap out of it and get them together already!' right? It'll happen eventually, no worries x) In the mean time, however, you should definitely review! Makes my life so much better with every one I get - and remember the cookies!**

**Au revoir, mes amis!**

**Until next time! 3**


	11. Chapter 11

**Oh heeeeyy look what I have! Chapter 11! Yaaaay I'm excited, hopefully this is to your liking though. I'm not sure how well I did, but I'm praying I did a good job! I'm trying to update things as regularly as possible, so if there's a bit of a wait in between I'm sorry! Well anyway, enjoy, and thank you all for your wonderful reviews and for just simply reading this story. You have no idea how much it means to me!**

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**Chapter 11**

Was I having a flashback? Was this another nightmare? My eyes opened slowly, despite the quickening of my heart as I began to panic. Axel was holding me just inches from the ground, one hand holding my head and the other supporting my back.

"Roxas, are you okay?" He asked, not a hint of threat or evil in his voice. I pushed away but regretted the notion immediately; my stomach cramped up again and I curled into a ball. "Hold on, let me get you some water."

Seriously, was I going insane? This had happened before, hadn't it?

Axel came back before I could even think about anything else. He handed me a water bottle, dripping from hastily filling it up at the fountain. "Talk about de ja vu, right?" He laughed nervously, kneeling down in front of me. Right, it _had_ happened before. This was how we first met. His features went from joking to serious in an instant. "Roxas, please tell me you haven't stopped eating."

I looked away.

"Roxas…" he sighed, dropping his head. "Why? Why won't you tell me what happened?"

Silence.

I glanced over to see his face scrunch up slightly in frustration. "Did he say something? Did he do something? Did _I_ do something? Is it because we're part of the organization? God dammit, Roxas, how the hell am I supposed to know how to help you when you aren't telling me anything!" he yelled, his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do. Every time I see you look absolutely miserable, and I thought we were getting somewhere but you suddenly closed back up. If it's because of Xemnas-"

"It's not." I said quickly. "He… doesn't have anything to do with it…"

"Then what happened, Roxas?" Axel asked, running his fingers through his hair.

"I can't…"

"You can. Just tell me." He pressed.

"Axel, I can't." I pleaded, curling farther into my ball.

"Roxas, I can't help you if you don't tell me."

"But…"

"Come on, you know I won't get angry if you just tell me." It seemed like he was the one begging now.

"I Just can't tell you, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Just because!"

Axel sighed. He was clearly frustrated. "Okay. You don't have to tell me, just… Would you at least try to start eating again? Hang out with us at lunch and before school?" With that he stood up, brushing of his knees. "It's not just me you're worrying, Roxas…"

"I-" my voice cracked, and I cleared my throat before trying again. "I'm having these dreams, and… I don't like them. They keep me up at night, but then I fall asleep during the day. It's getting hard to tell what's real and not. I don't have an appetite anymore. If I try to eat… I just feel sick."

"Then we'll have work on that together." Axel said, holding out a hand to me. "But you won't get anywhere if you keep all that bottled up, didn't I already tell you this? Now come on, I want some coffee and we need to make up for lost time."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded, hesitantly grabbing his hand. We went out to his car after I sent Sora a message to tell him I was going to be with Axel for the day. I was still shaken up from passing out, my body sending needle-like pains throughout my stomach. As soon as I got strapped into the familiar, musky smelling car, I felt my eyelids getting heavy.

Axel glanced over and shook my shoulder. "Don't go falling asleep on me now."

_"Nn… sorry…" I mumbled, doing my best to keep my eyes open. However when I began to fall asleep once again his grip tightened to the hurting point._

_ "I _told_ you not to fall asleep." I watched – to my horror – as Axel's voice slowly deepened, his skin darkened and features changed. __**He**__ was back. However the change only lasted for a second, and after blinking twice he was back to Axel. I pressed myself as far against the door as I could. "What are you staring at?"_

_ I stared down at the steering wheel. Wake up wake up wake up wake up!_

_ The Axel/Xemnas kept changing, switching between the two in the blink of an eye. "You thought you could get rid of me that easily? Thought that __**Axel**__ could protect you? It's not just your body I've scarred, boy." He hissed, leaning closer with every word. _

_ I tugged at the door. Locked._

_ He – __**it**__ moved closer, one hand on the seat and the other on my thigh, squeezing tightly. I shuddered, still clawing at the door as if it would maybe scratch away or unlock on it's own, chanting 'wake up wake up wake up' constantly. __**It**__ didn't stop. The hands – calloused and rough, no, thin and soft, both – roamed where they pleased. I tried to stop him – it. "Please… L-let me go."_

_ "You're mine." He breathed, right in my ear._

_ I yelled and kicked and squirmed as he grabbed at me, tugging, touching, pulling. I head my name, but I just kept yelling. "No no no! Axel, stop! Please! __**Axel!**__"_

"Roxas, wake up!" Axel yelled, one arm gripping tightly and the other on the dash, allowing him to lean over the middle of the car.

My eyes snapped open. The only thing registering was his hand on my arm, too tight. It _almost_ hurt. He was so close, hardly even a foot away. I tugged at his grip, panic rising when he didn't let go. "Roxas, look at me." Axel commanded. He sounded so much like… like the Axel in… "Breathe."

I shook my head, looking away. No, no I was still dreaming, wasn't I? I would calm down and then he would attack again, jus like all the other times. I tugged at my arm. "L-leave me alone! Let go, please…!" I begged, twisting and turning, avoiding his acid-stare. "Please stop… go away…"

The grip loosened until it was almost not even there anymore.

I squished against the chair, my face in one hand as the other was still outstretched from his hold. "G-get out of my head already…" I mumbled, rubbing away the tears that stung my eyes, daring to get past my nose.

The hand fell. Everything was silent.

I glanced up, and although my vision was blurred I could still read the expression on his face. He looked _hurt_. Shocked, upset, worried, torn, hurt. I wasn't dreaming. This was the _real_ Axel, the Axel who promised he would do everything in his power to help me, to protect me.

"Roxas…"

I curled my legs up, hiding my face in my knees_. 'I'm sorry'_

"Is that… what's been bothering you?" he asked slowly. The engine was off, the car parked in front of a little coffee shop.

I hesitated, and nodded.

Axel was quiet for a long time. "I…-" he sighed. "I don't really know how to react. I thought… that it was Xemnas bothering you again, but…"

"He… still bugs me…" I whispered.

"What..." he swallowed. "What exactly happens… in those dreams?"

I faltered. How could I tell him? How could I tell my best friend that he was _almost_ raping me in my dreams? That he turned into the man who did in _real life?_

"You don't have to." He sighed. "But I just… I need to know what happens, then maybe I can help."

I nodded slowly. "You… in the d-dreams, you act a lot like… like _him_… Sometimes you even change. It's not always completely, like your eyes will turn yellow, instead of green, but… sometimes… it _is_ completely. Y-you…" I coughed nervously "hurt me… like what he did, only I wake up right before."

Axel let out a shaky sigh. "When did this… start happening?"

"A few days before Xemnas took me." He didn't respond. I glanced warily over at him every now and then, biting my lip. "Are you…mad?"

He snapped out of his daze and stared at me. "What? Roxas, no, I'm not _mad_. I'm… frustrated and worried but I'm not angry. I just… I don't know how to help you when I'm part of the problem."

I chewed on my thumb. What was I supposed to tell him? My stomach was tied in knots, twisting and turning and jumping around. He had been such a good friend to me – maybe even more – and had proved in more ways than one that he would never want to do anything bad, yet I still couldn't get over my fears. What kind of friend was I?

I flinched violently when I felt his hand on my shoulder, but forced myself to relax. It' okay, it's okay. He wasn't bad. "Rox?" My mind was reeling; ideas running through my head at hyper-speed. If my conscious couldn't stop thinking that Axel would hurt me, then I'd just have to prove it wrong! Prove to myself that he wouldn't hurt me, that he was nothing to be afraid of. How, though? How did I prove it? How could I get rid of all of those horrible dreams, of all of the doubts?

_ 'I can think of a few…'_

"Roxas?" Axel asked again, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Ah, uh, yes?"

"You okay?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. Was I seriously going to try this? It was so far fetched, so completely insane. "Axel, go out with me."

"W-what?" he asked, practically jumping back in surprise. "Like, out where?"

"As my boyfriend." I clarified.

"Wait, hold on. I'm confused, weren't you just trying to avoid me?"

I let out a shaky sigh. "I-I know, but… I mean I think that if we, you know… then I guess I would be able to get over it… I don't know, it made sense in my head." Groaning, I dropped my head in my hands to cover how red it was getting. Why did I let myself say that? It was so embarrassing!

Axel laughed nervously. "Ah, well, it makes sense, kinda. Eh heh, I'm all for it, but uh… you sure?"

It was my turn to be surprised. He was actually saying yes? "Um, well, yeah… I'm sure."

"Absolutely positive?"

"Yes."

He leaned back in his seat and let out a very long breath. "Alright then."

We lapsed into silence, both unsure of what to do. I cleared my throat. "Um, weren't we going to get coffee?"

"Right! Coffee." Axel said, unlocking the car and jumping out of his seat but his foot caught on the door and he tripped. I followed after him, smiling slightly. I was still scared, still worried that maybe this was a bad idea. What if it just proved that he _was_- No, I couldn't think like that, no matter what.

In the end I ordered a caramel latte while Axel got a pumpkin spice latte to 'celebrate the season' as he had put it, and we sat at a tall tables by one of the many windows that covered the walls. The strange thing about living on an island was the changes in weather. Or lack thereof, I should say. Though sometimes it would get cooler than other days, the temperature seemed to stay fairly warm, even in autumn, it seemed.

"It doesn't snow here, does it?" I thought aloud.

"Nope, but on some of the other islands with mountains it does way up top, and there are cities that aren't too far away that get snow." Axel said, sipping at his coffee but wincing when it burned his tongue.

I nodded, keeping myself occupied by the designs on the coffee cup. "It snowed every winter in Twilight Town."

He sipped again. "I haven't seen snow since third grade."

"Really?"

"Yeah, when I visited my uncle. He lives way out in Hollow Bastion." Axel explained, chuckling to himself at the memory. "I remember, Reno and I ran around in the yard screaming our heads off and playing in the snow until we couldn't feel our feet or faces anymore. Kairi was too young to play outside by herself, but we brought in a bowl of snow for her to touch."

I twisted the cup around in my hands before finally taking a small sip to test if it was still hot. "I always helped my mom decorate the tree." I said. "It was kind of a family tradition. We put all of the ornaments on by how old they were, and we'd add a new one every year. When I was younger she'd bundle me up so much before I would go outside that I could barely move my arms… She always worried about little things like that."

"That just means she cared about you."

"Hey, do you think…do you think that they'd understand? If-if they had survived…" I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Do you think they'd forgive me?"

"I'm sure they already have." He said, a sad smile playing on his lips. "I may not be religious but I'm one hundred percent positive that wherever they are right now, they understand perfectly."

I cleared my throat, forcing the lump away. "Alright."

"Do you wanna get out of here?"

"Yeah."

We drove to Axel's house, greeted his brother and sister, and retreated to his room. I sat on his bed against the headboard, knees pulled up to my chest while he leaned cross-legged against the wall. We sat in silence for a while, just taking in the other's presence.

"So," Axel said, breaking the silence suddenly. "If we're going to be dating now, there are some things I've gotta know."

"Okay." I nodded, raising an eyebrow. Like_… what?_

"Alright, what are your restrictions? Like, what are you comfortable with doing or not doing?" he asked.

I thought for a moment. Restrictions? "Uh… I don't know?"

Axel sighed. "I need to know what you're comfortable with so I don't go to fast or too slow or something. Can you think of anything?"

"Um… sex?"

He choked on the air. Apparently he wasn't expecting me to be so straightforward about that. "Ah, well obviously we aren't _that_ far yet. Anything else more… simple?"

I cleared my throat, willing my face to not turn so red. I really doubt it worked. "Um… I don't know… I guess I'll just let you know when we get there?"

"I guess that works." He sighed, pushing off of the wall to sit up. "But promise to _tell me_ if it's bothering you or something. I'm not about to force you into anything you aren't ready for yet."

"A-alright." I nodded.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Okay, good." He grinned and turned to face me. "Can I try something?"

Cue heartbeat raising rapidly. "Um… what?"

"Just trust me."

I nodded hesitantly. Right, I had to trust him. On instinct I flinched away when he suddenly leaned closer. What was he going to do? I felt something soft on my cheek and then warmth all around me. Slowly opening my eyes I realized that he had simply planted a small kiss on my cheek and wrapped his arms around me.

"You," he poked my nose "need to stop being so nervous. I already said I wasn't going to do anything hasty."

"Sorry…" I mumbled, looking away partly in shame and partly in embarrassment. We sat like that for a while, Axel holding me tightly, his head resting on my shoulder so his warm breath tickled my neck. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, making my whole body tingle and warmth wash over me.

Wait – what the hell was _that_?

I shivered, trying to shake away the feeling and not let myself tense up too much or he would surely notice. Sadly, he noticed anyway.

"You alright there Roxy?" he asked, raising his head a bit to look at my face, which, to my dismay, was bright red.

"Ah, uh, y-yeah, I'm fine." I squeaked.

"You sure?"

His chin pressed into my neck slightly, hair brushing my ear. That same tingle happened again, making me tense even more as a huge shiver ran up and down my spine. What the _hell_ was _happening_ to me?

A sudden flash of realization dawned on Axel's face. Apparently he knew something I didn't. "Ooohh."

"What?" I growled.

Instead of answering, he blew on my neck. Again, the horrible shiver/tingle/_whatever_ happened again. "A-Axel! What the heck, that feels weird!"

"I didn't think your neck would be that sensitive, Roxy." He snickered.

"What are you talking about? It's not sensitive."

"Oh? Then it shouldn't bother you when I do _this_." And then there was something slimy and warm pressing against the side of my neck, right where it dipped into my shoulder, and slowly moved upward.

I yelped, the same feeling coming back only about ten times stronger. I clamped my hand over my mouth when I heard that sound, that horrible, embarrassing sound that was just _barely_ hidden behind my yell, but not quite.

Axel grinned. "I told you."

I pushed his face away and wiped the saliva off of my neck and onto his arm. What happened to not going fast? Then again, we had already kissed twice before… "T-that's nasty, you licked me!"

"I was testing a theory, and proving a point." Axel corrected, sitting himself up in a more comfortable position next to me. "I didn't seriously freak you out, did I?"  
"Well, no, I just… wasn't expecting that." I mumbled, rubbing at my neck. Holy crap, I could still _feel_ it, as if the motion was on repeat, just happening over and over and over and oh god, _why wasn't it going away?_

Not that it was, per say, a _bad_ feeling…

"I'll try to remember to warm you next time." He offered, folding his hands behind his back.

"That might be worse…" I sighed. "Just… whatever, I don't know."

"Hey, can I tell you something?" he asked, all joking left from his voice and expression instead it was soft and sincere, almost a little nervous.

"Sure."

"Honestly? I liked you from the very beginning. I saw you at school every now and then with Sora, but when I finally got to talk to you…" he sighed, turning slightly to face me. "I absolutely _had_ to have you, even if that meant just staying friends forever."

"I… I don't really know… what to say." I mumbled, looking down from his gaze before I became entranced once again and couldn't find the willpower to look away.

He laughed quietly, shaking his head. "You don't have to say anything. I just _hope_ that you'll be happy with me."

"I hope so too." My voice was just below a whisper, hardly audible, yet he heard it anyway. My response made him smile; made him wrap me in a tight hug and we just stayed there for a long time, holding onto each other. There was still so much that I needed to work through, that we _both_ needed to work through, and there was that fear that maybe things wouldn't work out, that I would remain haunted by my fears forever, but I had to at least try. And I believed – I truly did – that so long as Axel was there to help me, everything would be okay.

I just hoped it was true.

* * *

**Oohh dear, poor Roxy, having a sensitive neck xD I had to put it in there, for my own personal benefit. I suffer from an overly-sensitive neck/ear area as well. Haha well anyway, hopefully I didn't make things go too quickly? I seem to have that problem a lot ;-; Ah, haha... well please do review, I'd like that very much. Feedback is always welcome! But nothing rude, or it will make me a sad panda D: Luckily you all are a very pleasant bunch and I haven't received a single rude comment for this story yet! Any form of critiquing I've gotten for this story has always been very nice! That's what I like! Remember, comments and suggestions are always welcome so long as they aren't hurtful ^-^ I love you guys, hopefully chapter 12 will be up soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

**This... is awfully short. And kinda shitty. I'm not gonna lie. Oh god I'm soooo sorry this took kind of forever to finish. Augh, lots of random stuff going on, and I hit a writers block. You weren't the only ones affected D: I couldn't write ANYTHING. At all. It was horrible. Hopefully that is gone now, and I promise a longer, hopefully better written and more exciting next chapter.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this even if it isn't the best I could do ^^"**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

I opened my eyes slowly, taking in the sight around me. It was hard to believe that Axel and I had made up, that we were more than just friends now – though it never really felt like we were just friends to begin with, did it? I rolled over onto my side, staring up at Axel as he slept. It was strange, how up close I could see all of the imperfections on his skin and yet it just made him seem that more amazing. I brought a finger to his cheek, brushing some of his red spikes that strayed from his face back behind his ear.

A small grin formed as he opened his eyes slowly, making me pull away as quickly as I could and look away. "So you were awake." I mumbled, trying not to let my face get too red.

"Mm I just woke up, don't worry." He said quietly, his voice groggy with sleep. Well, at least I knew he wasn't lying. Axel yawned, folding his hands behind his head. "Okay, so what's the game plan?"

"Um… Not sure." I sighed. "What did we usually do on Saturday mornings?"

"Hm… Well, I think food is a good start."

"I am hungry." I nodded.

"Right, then we'll have breakfast. After that?" he asked, turning to look at me.

I shrugged. "Anything, I guess."

Axel groaned, suddenly sitting upright. "Okay! Here's the plan. Today, we are going to eat breakfast. This will consist of hash browns, scrambled eggs, and orange juice. Then, we are going to go out to the beach-"

"Axel, it's almost winter." I reminded him.

"Roxy, we don't get snow here." He said. "Plus we aren't going to swim, we're just gonna hang out! On the boardwalk, ya know? Get ice cream and stuff. Might want to bring a jacket though, cuz the weather is extremely bipolar in the winter and fall. Anyway! That is the plan so far."

"Um… alright then." I nodded slowly, sitting up as well. "Can we stop by the house so I can change and stuff first though? And I should probably tell Sora…" I groaned. Oh god, telling Sora… that was going to be interesting. He seemed all right with us being friends after a while, but _together_? That could be a stretch. Then again, he was constantly teasing me about liking him…

"Sounds good. Plus your family will want to know where you're going." He said, climbing out of bed. "Now, lets make some food! I'm starving."

"Right." I nodded, my stomach growling as if to agree with him.

Cooking with Axel was surprisingly a very enjoyable experience. I didn't have many skills in the kitchen myself, but he seemed to know exactly w hat to do. Then again, he had said himself that Reno didn't usually cook well, and Kairi was hardly ever there to begin with, so he really had no choice but to learn how to cook for himself. We started with the hash browns, since he said that they took longer to cook. I was in charge of cracking the eggs into a bowl and mixing them together while the stove heated up.

"Do you know how to cook eggs?" he asked, pouring the hash browns into their pan and raising his voice over their sizzling. I shook my head. How sad was that? I didn't even know how to make eggs.

He didn't seem to care, though, just grinned and dropped a piece of butter into the empty pan next to the hash browns that were still sizzling away. "Bring the bowl over and dump 'em in." he instructed.

I nodded, doing as he told. I must have been too cautious with my pouring, because the next thing I knew Axel was practically leaning against my back and tilting my hand so that it all poured in at once.

"You want to eat _today_, right?" he grinned, handing me a spatula. "Just stir them around and once they start taking shape, chop 'em up. And don't let them stick! That would be bad."

"Right." I turned to watch the yellow mush, and for a while the only sound was the sizzling and popping of chopped up potatoes and eggs. I thought back to the night before. No waking up screaming or sweating, so that had been a plus, but I knew that something had happened in my dreams. Whether it was something good or bad I couldn't remember. I did my best to push the thought away in case it had been bad and all came flooding back at once.

Axel leaned against my side as he cooked, glancing over at me. "Whatcha thinking about?"

I shrugged. "I don't think I had a nightmare last night."

Once I said that I wanted to take it back immediately. I could tell that it bothered him., that he hated thinking about it as much as I did – maybe even more – and yet I brought it back out into the open. Great. Axel nodded after a slight hesitation. "Well that's good."

I nodded, not sure what else to say.

"Watch the eggs." He said, bringing me back to cooking. I stirred them around, the previously yellow slop now fluffy and able for me to crush into small pieces. At least it kept my mind off of the dreams.

The food was done a couple of minutes later and Axel was scooping it onto our plates. I had to admit I was pretty impressed that I hadn't burnt anything, but then again all I had done was stir some eggs. We had the choice of orange juice or apple juice with our meal, and after a very long debate over which was better I settled for apple juice, Axel taking the orange juice.

I was still hesitant. What, did you expect things to go back to normal in a matter of hours? No, but we were getting there. At least we were talking. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed being in his company, even just sitting across from each other while we ate breakfast. I had never noticed how much of an affect he had on me.

"We should probably go." Axel said, nudging my foot with his as I took the last bite of my meal. "You ready?"

I nodded, chugging the rest of my apple juice before picking up my plate and carrying it into the kitchen. Once Axel set the dishwasher we got ready to leave. He was able to change into a fresh pair of clothes, but I had to wait until we got back to my house.

Axel nudged me again on our way out, ruffling my hair. "Hey, lighten up." He said, kissing my forehead and then pinched my cheek.

I swatted his hand away but grinned. How come I never noticed how amazing those little kisses felt? "Yeah okay, lets go."

**..::_ღ∆๒๒ץкℓиՀღ_::..**

"I knew it!" Sora yelled, jumping into the air. "Hah! I told you! I knew you liked him!"

"Sora, can you be serious?" I groaned, finally in a clean pair of clothes and my hair brushed.

"Okay, okay." He grinned, sitting down on the edge of the bed – and just like that his face went deadly serious. "But Rox, are you sure you want to do this? I mean you said that you've been having all these dreams and stuff, and you ignored him for a while, is going back and suddenly getting together like this really going to help? What if it makes things worse? Oh and now Xemnas is really going to be angry if he ever finds out…"

I sighed, glancing towards the door. Axel was waiting in the living room, giving us space to talk. "I know, I'm kind of worried about that too… but I mean, pushing him away didn't do anything productive. In fact, I think the dreams just got worse when I did… so I want to try this. Prove to myself that Axel isn't like him, like my mind keeps trying to tell me."

"Following your heart not your head, awww~" Sora said, pinching my cheeks. He made it sound so… cheesy. "I do understand what you're saying though, just… you know, try to not do anything stupid. Oh! You need to get going! Come on, your _boyfriend_ is waiting."

I blushed. Right, he was my boyfriend now… Saying that still sounded so strange to me. We rushed down the stairs, Sora waving goodbye and winking at me as Axel and I left to go down to the beach. There were quite a few people there, to my surprise. There were even a few people out in the water, though they were mostly surfers or windsurfers.

Axel and I stayed on the boardwalk, walking up and down and looking at some of the little shops that lined it. "Where to first?" he asked.

"I don't know. You've been here before, right? What's the best thing to start with?"

"Well," he thought for a moment. "Everything is pretty cool, but there's this really cool shop that has all these fun trinkets."

"Isn't souvenir shopping supposed to be last?" I grinned, raising an eyebrow as we walked.

"Well it's not souvenir shopping because we live here!" he grunted. "Besides, it's the closest one to us."

"Fine, we'll go there first." I followed next to Axel as we walked along the wooden planks that occasionally squeaked beneath us. He brought me into a small store that had one of those colorful rock stands sitting out in front, and something similar but with seashells on the other side of the door. He pulled me inside, the excitement showing on his face.

The store contained even more little trinkets and souvenirs that anyone visiting the Islands for a holiday would probably want to pick up. It occurred to me how little of Destiny Islands I had actually seen. Sure, I had been out on the town a little, but we hardly went anywhere else besides the same mall or few other stores.

Axel grinned, somehow already across the store and dangled a little keychain to show me. As I made my way over he picked up another and tossed it to me. It was a paoupu fruit. "Ever heard the legend?" he asked while we roamed around the store, stopping every now and then to look at something that caught out eye.

"I think so." I said, scanning my memory. Sora had talked about them once when we were younger.

"They say that if you split one with someone special to you, your destinies will be intertwined as one." He seemed so serious for a while there until he burst out laughing.

I rolled my eyes. "It is a cute thought, though."

"Never said I didn't believe it." He winked, making me blush. "Now, pick out something you like."

"What? You don't have to buy me anything." I stammered, adjusting my fingerless gloves.

"Roxy." Axel said, suddenly very serious as he pulled out his wallet and dangled it in my face. "I have fifty dollars in here specifically meant to buy anything that either of us want today. If you don't help me spend it, I'm going to throw it away."

I chewed on the side of my cheek, letting out a frustrated/embarrassed huff and looked around for something. I eventually picked out a coffee mug that was shaped like a yellow bird's head. My previous mug had been broken, so I was in much need of a new one.

"Is that it?" Axel asked, looking at the different necklaces and bracelets.

"Yup." I nodded, placing it on the counter. Axel set one of the two-necklace packs down as well, causing an eyebrow to raise. "What are these?"

"Well seeing as I can't exactly run all the way out to the island to get a pauopu fruit, this will have to do." He grinned. The necklaces had been matching, each one half of the fruit and combined together made a whole.

I found my face burning a bright red as the cashier packed the items into a bag and told us to have a nice day. Axel immediately pulled the necklaces out of the bag as soon as we were outside and walking again, handing one to me once he got them untangled from the packaging. "Consider it a first-date gift."

"T-thanks." I mumbled, fumbling to try and hook it around my neck.

However, the second Axel noticed I was having trouble he moved behind me, taking the small trinket out of my hands and clipping the two ends together for me. I thanked him again.

"No problem." He grinned. "So, where to next?"

"You tell me."

"Hm… well, there is an arcade a ways down, about in the middle. And then afer that we can get some food, and then just walk around some more." He said.

"Alright." I nodded, following him down the boardwalk. It was beginning to get a bit warmer out as we reached the middle of the day, so I took off my jacket and gloves. Axel, however, seemed to still be affected my the cold.

"You're crazy if you think this is nice." He said, stuffing his hands in his pocket.

I shugged. "Winter is ten times worse in Twilight Town than here."

"Yeah, but still."

We headed into the arcade and I was bombarded by flashing lights and people laughing or screaming. Part of me wanted to leave, but before I could say anything Axel dragged me over to the cashier and got us a bag of tokens. We started with the shooting games, going around to different ones that seemed interesting. Next were the racing games. About an hour or so later I was tired of loosing – it was time to play something that I was a master at.

"Dance Dance Revolution? Really Roxas?" Axel grinned, leaning on the red bar of the game.

"Yes, you got to pick most of the games already. It's my turn." I said, climbing onto the machine. Axel shrugged and moved onto his spot while I pressed the buttons, making the song random and choosing other simple options until the game was ready.

"Get ready to loose, Roxy." Axel grinned.

I kept my smirk on the inside, because although I knew I was practically a master at DDR, I didn't want to take the chance of loosing and feeling like an idiot. As the music began I kept my feet moving to the rhythm, not taking my eyes off of the screen no matter what. I counted in my head and forced myself to resist the urge to peak and see how Axel was doing.

I continued until the song stopped, and after finishing the last move I leaned back against the red safety bar. Only then did I peel my eyes away from the screen to look at Axel. He was staring in awe, an eyebrow raised and panting slightly.

"Holy crap."

"What?" I asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean 'what', you didn't miss a single step and got either all perfect or all excellent. Jesus Rox, you're like, DDR master."

"Heh, thanks." I grinned, only slightly embarrassed. It never really occurred to me before that I was good enough to surprise anyone like that. That or Axel could have just been really bad at it, who knows.

The rest of the date – oh man it sounded so weird saying that – continued on for another hour or so. We walked up and down the boardwalk, stopping at shops that caught or eyes or finding food stands when we got hungry. I felt bad about Axel spending so much money on me, but he assured me that it was meant to be used, and he wouldn't feel satisfied if we didn't spend at least half of it.

Later in the afternoon we finally left, our feet hurting and money well spent. He dropped me off back at the house, kissing my forehead once we got up the porch and hurried back to his car as I opened the door.

Sora was standing in the doorway, surrounded by Kairi, Namine, and Riku. My smile vanished almost immediately when I noticed the either surprised or smirking expressions on their faces.

"You." Kairi said, pointing at me. "Spill it. Now. I want all the gorey details."

I groaned, slapping a hand on my face. This… was going to be a very long afternoon.

* * *

**Urgh... No me gusta. Je n'aime pas. Je deteste D: Well... We've got to work on their relationship for a while, but Xemnas isn't out of the picture just yet... so prepare yourselves. Oh god this means I have to write more drama... Great. **

**Well anyway, a little heads up for all my readers! I'm going to be working on a legit novel - yes, like a book with my own characters! Omg! - that will switch off perspectives via every chapter of a boy and a girl, both struggling with their sexuality. Sooo it's gonna be fun c: and hopefully if I'm lucky and it actually turns out nice, I can maybe find someone to publish me! Though who wants to publish a 15 year old girl's novel, right? Then again, I'll probably be a bit older when it's actually finished... So yeah.**

** Review please, I need the encouragement! .**


	13. Author's Note Reason for Hiatus

**Hello there! Now, before you all kill me for making you think that this is an update, let me explain! First of all, because I have like five stories out, this is posted on all of them. Okay, so about a week ago, on Saturday night around 12:00, I was chillin on my laptop like I do every night (because obviously I don't have a life outside of the internet) and I ejected my flashdrive to charge my iPod and phone. Well, later that night, I plugged my flashdrive back in. Nothing happened. I tried it again, nothing happened. And still today, _NOTHING HAS HAPPENED_. Guess what was on my flashdrive? All of my stories and art and pictures and any other random crap I had saved on there. It's gone. Goodbye. Because of course, being the lazy-ass idjit that I am, I never saved backup files. So, while I was already behind in updating my stories to begin with (Oh god my Kingdom Hearts readers I am SO SORRY), it's going to take me a few weeks (maybe months) to get things back in gear. I'm not quitting any of my stories (at least I hope I wont), I just wanted you all to know why exactly I haven't, and probably won't be, updating for a while. Thank you for your patience and for putting up with me ;-; I'll do my best to get over myself and rewrite all those chapters I was about halfway through at the time. In the mean time, happy reading 3**

**-Abby**


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